In the last 24 hours, 25 militants including two commanders were killed in the ongoing military operation in Pakistan's northwest, a military spokesman said in Islamabad Saturday at a press conference.
Major General Athar Abbas told reporters that a total of 1,217 militants including foreigners had been killed since the operation began in late April.
He said that 81 security forces personnel were killed and 250 others were wounded since then.
"Law enforcing operation by security forces is successful due to local public support. The people of Mingora have started pin pointing militants who were trying to pose as innocent citizens," Abbas said.
During the operation in Mingora, six improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were neutralized and one dead body of a militant was found.
"The army is in full control of Mingora," Abbas said, adding that it was secured without resistance from the militants.
Mingora, the city of some 500,000 population, was totally occupied by Taliban militants earlier this month and Taliban leader Maulana Fazalullah has recently asked his fighters in Mingora not to fire at the soldiers, according to local reports.
The spokesman said that terrorist commanders Abu Said Misbauddin and Sultan Khan were killed and three others apprehended in various areas of Swat.
Speaking on the occasion, Pakistani Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said that the foreign office had so far received 231.5million U.S. dollars as assistance for the internally displaced persons (IDPs), which have now exceeded 3 million.
(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2009)
