Swat Valley

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Ground Troops Reach Taliban HQ: Pakistan

Refugee crisis mounts as fighting ramps up

(Newser) - Pakistani soldiers descended on a Taliban stronghold in Swat Valley today to “search and destroy,” a military spokesman tells Reuters. Ground troops were also moving toward the remote northwest region as the military ramps up its offensive against insurgents there. Officials say 751 of the vastly outnumbered militants...

Refugee Tally Hits 1.3M as Pakistan Plans Ground Strike

(Newser) - Pakistani forces told more residents of Swat Valley to flee during a 9-hour lull in fighting today, sparking an even greater migration that is snarling roads and deepening a humanitarian crisis, the Guardian reports. A quarter million refugees have now registered for help, bringing the homeless tally to 1.3...

Pakistanis Decry Taliban Sharia Law

(Newser) - Public opinion is swinging against Sharia law in Pakistan's Swat Valley as tens of thousands flee fighting between Pakistani forces and the Taliban, the Washington Post reports. A public fed up with inefficient and corrupt secular courts once welcomed the Taliban's version of religious law, but lawmakers and pundits now...

Pakistani Civilians Stuck as 55 Militants Die in War

Curfew curbs residents' flight in 'war of country's survival'

(Newser) - Pakistani troops and warplanes killed at least 55 Taliban militants today in what Prime Minister Raza Gilani is calling a "war of the country's survival," the AP reports. Fighting centered in the northwestern Swat Valley, where a curfew prevented residents from fleeing and the main town has...

As Pakistan Shells Taliban, 500K Flee Swat

Military bombards densely populated areas; UN warns of crisis

(Newser) - Refugees continue to flee the Swat Valley in Pakistan, reports the Guardian, where government forces battling resurgent Taliban militants have been conducting airstrikes in heavily populated areas. The government is preparing for up to 500,000 refugees in what the UN warns is becoming a humanitarian crisis. The Washington Post...

Fighting Erupts as Pakistan-Taliban Truce Folds

(Newser) - Pakistan's government abandoned its rapidly decaying truce with the Taliban today, al-Jazeera reports, with government forces openly battling militants in several parts of the Swat Valley following a Taliban attack on an army convoy yesterday. Tens of thousands of residents have already fled the area, and the government said it...

Pakistanis Flee Swat Ahead of Taliban Clash

Militants take control of main city in strategic valley

(Newser) - Pakistani authorities have warned residents of the country's troubled Swat Valley to leave their homes ahead of an expected military operation in the Taliban-controlled area. The February peace deal between Pakistan and the Taliban, which included the introduction of Sharia law, has effectively collapsed, reports Reuters. Militants have infiltrated several...

Pakistan Launches Strikes Against Taliban

Militant presence in Buner violates peace agreement, says military

(Newser) - Pakistan has deployed troops and begun airstrikes against suspected Taliban sites in the Buner district, uncomfortably close to the capital. A military spokesman said some 500 militants are in the district, just over 60 miles from Islamabad, violating a peace agreement, the BBC reports. Meanwhile, tens of thousands have fled...

Pakistan Sends Troops to Halt Taliban Advance

Militants attack forces sent to retake district overrun by Taliban

(Newser) - Pakistan has rushed  hundreds of  troops to an area overrun by Taliban militants, AFP reports. The extremists have seized control of Buner district—just 60 miles west of the capital—and witnesses say they are patrolling the streets, barring women from public places, and warning residents not to engage in...

Taliban Just 70 Miles From Islamabad

Advances pose 'mortal threat' to US security, says Clinton

(Newser) - The Taliban are expanding their reach in Pakistan and are now perched about 70 miles from the capital of Islamabad. The militants, recently given control of the Swat Valley by the government, took over the neighboring Buner district last night. Hillary Clinton told a House panel today that the "...

Emboldened Taliban Gear Up for Pakistan Takeover

Taliban move closer to capital after peace deal allows Islamic law in northwest

(Newser) - Pakistan's deal to allow the Taliban to impose Sharia law in the Swat valley in return for peace has inspired the extremists to seek further gains, the Washington Post reports. Taliban fighters are spreading deeper into the region—a mere 100 miles east of the capital—and leaders say they...

Taliban Wield Mighty New Weapon: Class Warfare

Militants exploit tensions in areas where feudalism still holds sway

(Newser) - Taliban militants are exploiting the deep class divisions in Pakistani society in a push to expand their power, the New York Times reports. The militants gained control of the Swat Valley in part by organizing landless peasants into gangs to force out wealthy landlords. It's a strategy that many fear...

Taliban Flouts Deal to Disarm in NW Pakistan

Critics see signs that nascent deal won't quell violence

(Newser) - The Taliban's refusal to disarm in Pakistan's Swat province—believed to be a provision of the recent deal that officially brought Islamic law in the area—raises doubts about the prospects for peace, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The strict cleric who brokered the Swat deal agreed to the weapons...

Thousands of Fighters Train in New Taliban Haven

(Newser) - Militants have been pouring into Pakistan’s Swat Valley, thanks to a controversial peace deal between the Taliban and Pakistan’s government, the Wall Street Journal reports. President Asif Ali Zardari signed a bill yesterday to impose Islamic law in Swat, effectively sealing his agreement with the militants. Training camps...

Pakistan, Taliban Call Indefinite Truce

Militants agree to extend ceasefire in Swat valley

(Newser) - Taliban militants and Pakistani officials have agreed to an indefinite ceasefire in the country's troubled Swat valley, Reuters reports. The agreement extends an earlier 10-day truce in which the Taliban agreed to lay down their arms in return for Islamic sharia law being enforced in the area. Militants in the...

Taliban Target Pakistanis With Relatives in US

Extremists kidnap family of immigrants, demand ransom

(Newser) - The Taliban have developed a new tactic as they grow stronger in Pakistan: kidnapping and intimidating Pakistanis with relatives in the US. Immigrants are targeted through their families for money or as punishment for perceived political dissent, reports the New York Times. This creates a vexing paradox for Pakistanis in...

Pakistan Peace Deal Imposes Sharia Law

Agreement creates new 'order of justice' for Swat region

(Newser) - A peace deal between Pakistan and the Taliban will bring the country's troubled Swat valley under Islamic Sharia law, the BBC reports. The agreement "was reached after realization that it was the demand of the people," a regional official says. Since a violent Taliban campaign to impose Sharia...

Taliban Declares Ceasefire in Pakistan Valley

Militants begin peace talks with government, warn of retaliation

(Newser) - The Taliban declared a 10-day ceasefire in a Pakistani valley and freed a Chinese hostage today after it began peace talks with the government, but an abducted American remains missing. The militants called the move a goodwill gesture, as its sympathizers and government officials discuss introducing elements of Islamic law...

Red Cross: Pakistan Now a War Zone

Tribal areas become war zone as government steps up assault on militants

(Newser) - Pakistan's escalating confrontation with the Taliban has plunged the country into full-scale war, the New York Times reports. A quarter of a million people have fled the fighting as the Pakistani army attacks the militants in tribal areas on at least three fronts, and 20,000 have flooded in desperation...

Pakistan Truce Cedes Region to Militants

Government reins loosen in return for fewer attacks; West worried

(Newser) - Pakistan struck a peace deal today with Islamic militants in northwestern Pakistan, the AP reports. Under the pact, the military will slowly pull out of Swat, a region along the Afghanistan border, and allow radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah to install limited Islamic law there. In exchange, the militants will recognize...

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