27 Taliban fighters killed in NW Pakistan operation

2009-05-18 22:24:50  

    ISLAMABAD, May 18 (Xinhua) --

Twenty-seven Taliban fighters were killed during the last 24 hours in various areas in northwestern Pakistan, said the Pakistani military Monday.

    Three important Taliban commanders were among the 27 killed, said military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas at a press conference here in Islamabad.

    Three security forces personnel were also killed and 17 others were injured in the operation, according to the spokesman.

    At the same press conference, Pakistani Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira clarified two concepts on the situation in the country's northwest.

    Speaking at the end of the All Parties Conference on the country's current situation, Kaira said that the situation in Swat, Malakand of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) was not terrorism but insurgency.

    He also requested the media not to call the internally displaced persons (IDPs) as refugees.

    Meanwhile, more than 1.6 million people have been displaced in the conflict zone in northwestern Pakistan, according to a provincial relief commissionerate.

    164,8018 persons have fled the Malakand division where armed forces have been battling the Taliban militants since late April, according to an NWFP Relief Commissionerate report made public Monday.

    About 215,017 internally displaced persons have been staying at17 relief camps, said the report. While more than 1.4 million affected people were registered outside the camps.

    Seventy-five registration points have been set up in different NWFP cities like Mardan, Swabi, Charsadda, Kohat and Peshawar, it said.

    The NWFP government inked a deal with an outlawed group led by cleric Sufi Muhammad, founding chief of an outlawed group Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi in February. The government agreed to enforce Sharia, or Islamic law, in Malakand Division of NWFP including the restive Swat valley once the peace was restored there.

    However, Taliban fighters in early April entered Buner District from the neighboring Swat district and were reluctant to vacate the area despite their pledge to do so. Pakistani security forces then started a military operation against them in Buner, followed by operations in Swat and other areas in the country's northwest.

Editor: Yan