The Taliban stormed into Saidu Sharif in the Swat Valley on Tuesday and occupied most government offices including that of local police chief. The Taliban have also taken positions outside the residence of Malakand commissioner under whose administrative jurisdiction the area falls. Around 21 people were killed in the clashes, The Daily Times reports.
While talking to reporters, Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claimed militants were in control of ‘90 per cent’ of the valley. He said their actions were in response to “Army violations of the peace deal.”
The NWFP government, however, accused the Taliban of not honouring their commitments under the peace deal despite the announcement of Darul Qaza in the Malakand Division.
Scare and panic spread among the people when the District Coordination Officer (DCO) Khushal Khan directed the residents of the Mingora city, Amankot, Makanbagh, Qambar and Rahimabad areas to leave for safer places when the curfew was relaxed for five hours.
About 40,000 people fled the areas soon after the directives before the local Law maker, Sher Shah, intervened and made the authorities to advise people to stay back at their homes.
An Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said that militants in Swat blew up a police station and fired rockets at posts of security forces at Shangla Top, Shamzoi Bridge, Bariam bridge and grid station, Mingora.
Militants also looted a store of the World Food Programme in Swat and took away bags of wheat and cans of edible oil, the statement said.
Khushal Khan, the top administrator in Swat, said Taliban militants were roaming the area and laying mines.
“Everything will be OK once our rulers stop bowing before America,” Muslim Khan, the Taliban spokesman, said, according to The News.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the NWFP Information Minister, said up to 500,000 people were expected to flee the valley. Hundreds are already gone, adding to roughly half a million people driven from other regions in the northwest over the last year by fighting between soldiers and insurgents.
