Pakistan claims 700 Taliban killed in Swat valley strikes

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Warnings of refugee crisis with 1.3 million on the run as minister pledges to continue fight until 'the last' militant is killed

Declan Walsh in Islamabad, Sana ul Haq in Mingora and Mark Tran

Army attacks in the Swat valley, in north-west Pakistan, have killed up to 700 militants, according to the country's interior minister. The claim comes amid growing US fears that al-Qaida is moving to capitalise on Pakistan's growing instability.

As government forces launched new air strikes in Swat, suicide bombers attacked a checkpoint near the main north-western city of Peshawar, killing 10 people and wounding more than a dozen.

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The interior minister, Rehman Malik, said the operation would continue until "the last" Taliban fighter had been ousted.

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Petraeus said al-Qaida's central leadership had moved to Pakistan but he denied that generous military aid was linked to a possible US deployment. "This is not about us putting combat boots on the ground," he told Fox News.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/11/pakistan-swat-taliban-army-refugees