Pakistani army closes in on Swat town; bomb kills 11

Pakistani army closes in on Swat town; bomb kills 11

www.reuters.com

* Pakistani soldiers close in on Swat town - army

* Bomb kills 11 in Peshawar

* Suspected U.S. drone kills 28 militants

* Number of displaced rises to 1.17 million - U.N.

(Adds UNHCR comment)

By Alamgir Bitani

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, May 16 (Reuters) - Pakistani soldiers are closing in on the main town in the Taliban bastion of Swat, the army said on Saturday, in an offensive that has driven more than a million people from their homes.

The army launched the offensive more than a week ago to stop the spread of Taliban influence after the collapse of a peace pact the United Stat

(visit the link for the full news article)

As many of you know I have been posting this developing story over the past few month. It seems the Pakistanis are really serious with this new offensive. SWAT was supposed to be a haven for the Taliban but it appears that is a thing of the past.

This is becoming a serious refuge crises. With more than a million people on the move.



www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

From the same report I think we will be seeing much heavier casualties in the near future stay tuned.

Reporters have left Swat and there was no independent confirmation of the casualties. About 15,000 members of the security forces face about 5,000 militants, the military says.

Well its a nice initiative on paper, but youll never get rid of the Taliban, they're like weeds. You think you kill them all and more grow.
What they really need to do is improve education system and close down Madrassas where the children are indoctrinated, or in other words pull it out by the root, not the leaves.

reply to post by Ridhya


It's a way of life for them. Are we going to be real nation builders?

The United Nations says that more than 800,000 people have fled their homes in northwest Pakistan over
the last two weeks amid fighting between the military and Taliban forces.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has warned of a humanitarian disaster if international assistance
to those in need is not greatly increased.

Imran Khan reports from a refugee camp in the Swabi district.

Millions of refugees in Pakistan,
Afghanistan
Iraq
Palestine
Burma
Sudan
Darfur

...where do they all go..?
camps cant last forever

reply to post by Ridhya


The sad truth is that most of them either Die from starvation or get killed or picked off by either side in conflicts. Well we here in the west order two extra large peperoni pizzas with everything and then set back and watch our shows or surf the web.

I'm being cynical.

A bit off topic here but I would find it very interesting to see these areas on google maps .
Perhaps tomorrow when I am not so dam tired from working all day I will see what I can find .

Yeah, there was a short period where everyone complain about the Iraqi civilians being killed every day, then it became 'normal' and people get used to it and forget. Then everyone same thing for Darfur, Burma, probably all of them, but then over time people stop caring and get back to the daily routine, mainly because they are sick of inaction by government. You can protest all you want and raise 'awareness' but in the end it does nothing.

I know what you mean and to put it simply we are 'content' as long as our life is not affected

Im pretty sure most of the militans fled the SWAT valley before the Pakistani army arrived.

This is the way of these people, fire, flee, reinforce, fire, flee reinforce.

The real show will be if the Pakistani army pushes them all the way to the border, and keep them there.

SWAT valley is a small chunk of the main area, this is either a token show of action, or a legitimate attempt to remove the Taliban, the next 4 weeks will show is which.