Pakistani Taliban: We'll avoid combat in Swat city

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Pakistani Taliban: We'll avoid combat in Swat city

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ISLAMABAD - The Taliban urged civilians Monday to return to the main town in Pakistan's Swat Valley, promising they won't attack security forces battling insurgents there but stopping short of calling the move a cease-fire.

The army has already ruled out halting its operation in the valley, saying such an announcement was a sign that the outnumbered insurgents were "staring defeat in the face."

Pakistan began the month-old offensive against militants in Swat and surrounding areas after they ignored the terms of a peace deal. U.S. and other Western allies have hailed the operation amid worries the country was not doing enough to root out militants who use its soil to stage attacks across the border in Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan framed the militants' decision to stop attacking troops in Mingora town as due to concern for the safety of civilians and property.

"I would like to appeal to the people of Mingora to get back to their homes and start their routine life as we will not fire even a single shot," Khan told The Associated Press in a phone call from an undisclosed location.

Asked if that meant a cease-fire, he added, "No, this is not like that. Our aides will remain there in Mingora, but we will not attack, we will not fire shots."

The army says it secured several major intersections in Mingora, an urban center that under normal circumstances has at least 375,000 residents. Many of the extremists were fleeing Mingora for Kabal, a town to the west, but security forces are trying to secure that locality as well, an army statement said Monday.

Troops also have secured Malam Jabba — the site of a ski resort that militants wrecked last year — which the army said the Taliban were using as a training center and logistics base.

The army statement Monday afternoon said in the previous 24 hours, four suspected militants were killed and eight were arrested in the valley, while six security personnel were wounded.

In rejecting the Taliban's pledge to stop fighting, which Muslim Khan first made late Sunday in another AP interview, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the militants "have started using ploys to escape. They are now remembering the civilians whom they used to behead and decapitate."

He said the operation in the city would go on as planned. Commanders have said they aim to eliminate the militants in the valley and on Friday said any form of cease-fire was highly unlikely.

The military says about 1,100 suspected insurgents have died so far in the offensive. It has not given any tally of civilian deaths, and it's unclear how it is separating noncombatants killed from militants. Residents fleeing the region have reported dozens of ordinary Pakistanis killed in the fight. Journalists have mostly been barred from reporting there.

Close to 1.9 million civilians have fled the valley and surrounding districts, but up to 20,000 remain in Mingora.

A resident on the outskirts of the city said 3,000 people were stranded in his neighborhood and were suffering.

"We do not have anything to eat. We do not have water," said Liaqat Ali. "We do not have medicines. We do not have any doctor or any hospitals to go to."

Pakistan will need at least $1 billion to reconstruct damaged areas and help the displaced resettle once the fighting ends, federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said.

"To send them back home, we have started initial satellite surveys for the rehabilitation of their homes, business and cultivatable lands," he said.

During a meeting with a U.S. congressional delegation visiting Monday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appealed for more American aid to help the displaced, according to a press release from the premier's office.

Most of the refugees are staying with families or friends, but more than 160,000 are in relief camps just south of the battle zone. Some fear the generally broad public support for the military campaign could drain away if the refugees' plight worsens or if the army gets bogged down too long.

In recent days, Pakistani officials have tried to quell rumors of an imminent military offensive in South Waziristan, part of the semiautonomous tribal belt that has long been a magnet for al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Still, troops and insurgents there have fought in recent days.

The latest clashes came after suspected militants lobbed rockets and mortar shells at two military camps in the Khargai Kila and Jundola areas. Troops retaliated with artillery fire in several spots, two intelligence officials told AP.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media on the record.

Many families have begun to flee the region amid the violence and reports of greater military action.

"Bombing has destroyed our homes and shops and we had no choice except to leave the area," said Ahmed Khan Bittani, who was evacuating with his extended family including 10 children.