Thousands of people have fled Shangla in NWFP as security forces step up an offensive against pro-Taliban militants, witnesses and officials said on Tuesday, as fighting killed at least 19 people.
Advancing ground troops killed 15 militants in the Shangla district in the scenic Swat valley, the site of fierce clashes with insurgents led by Maulana Fazlullah in recent weeks in which around 300 people have died. Four civilians were killed when a mortar bomb hit their residence as security forces pounded militant positions in the same district, witnesses said.
The military has moved 15,000 troops to the area for the offensive. "In Shangla we are using ground troops, and (elsewhere) in Swat we are using artillery and helicopter gunships," said military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad.
He said up to 30 militants were killed in fighting in Swat on Monday. Fighting flared between troops and fighters of pro-Taliban cleric Fazlullah, who is leading a campaign to enforce a strict Islamic code in the area, in October.
Militants have infiltrated from strongholds on the Afghan border to support Fazlullah in recent weeks, while the country's focus has been on President Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule and suspension of the constitution in an apparent bid to hold onto power.
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