The Pakistani military claims to have taken the village of Peochar and to have cleared it of militants. It was the headquarters of Mulla Fazlullah, a top leader of the Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan.
The military also claimed to have taken most of the major city of Mingora, which had had 300,000 inhabitants or so before the military operation there, but which is now a ghost town. (See video below). These military claims cannot be confirmed by independent journalists because they are excluded from the war zone.
Despite the military’s talk of having ‘cleared’ the Taliban from major centers, fierce fighting continued in Dir and neighboring areas. Meanwhile, Pakistan increased the bounty on the heads of the major insurgent leaders.
Some Pakistani observers believe that the Taliban turn to terrorism tactics could turn the public decisively against them.
Aljazeera English has video of the Pakistani army claiming complete conquest of Mingora.
Dawn reports that there are now 3 million internally displaced persons, victims of the Taliban and the large-scale military campaign against them in Malakand division.
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