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15 more die as Pak military continues anti-Taliban drive

Zardari appeals for international help to avert human catastrophe

Afp. Peshawar, Rawalpindi
Eleven militants and four soldiers were killed during the last 24 hours as the Pakistan military continued its air and ground offensive against the Taliban in its northwest, military sourcessaid.
Pakistan fighter jets and attack helicopters pbunded Taliban targets in the northwest as President Asif Ali Zardari yesterday called for global help to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.
Zardari held talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York, where he appealed for global aid for the displaced.
"We re appealing to the world, myself and the secretary general... to draw attention on the human catastrophe that is taking place," he told reporters.
Ban expressed 'deep concern" about the humanitarian situation in the area, where the UN refugee agency said 501.496 stranded people had registered with authorities since May 2.
The death toll announced by the government yesterday was the lowest single day toll since the military launched an offensive in Swat last week.
It is impossible to confirm such tolls
independently, which add up to more than 750 dead militants over the last 17 days in the northwest.
But it
"Four soldiers embraced shahadat (martyrdom) and 12 security force personnel were also injured during encounters," a military statement said.
The military also said five beheaded bodies were found in various places around Mingora. That was also impossible to confirm but at least one resident told AFP from a refugee camp further south that he had seen corpses in Mingora.
It is difficult for reliable and independent information on developments to filter across the frontlines, as many local journalists have reportedly fled the region.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Kayani yesterday ordered his troops to minimise civilian casualties even if they had to take risks while battling Taliban militants in the northwest.
He also directed "precision strikes" in the offensive that has already displaced hundreds of thousands of people from the Taliban-held Swat valley and adjoining areas since May 8. officials said.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled the punishing offensive in the
Swat valley. escapingTaliban fighters who have terrorised the population in a bloody campaign to enforce sharia law and expand their control.
Terrified residents trapped in Mingora. the district's main town, told AFP by telephone that militants had pkui ted mines and were digging trenches.
"People are becoming mentally ill, our senses have shut down, children and woman are crying, please tell the government to pull us out of here," said one shopkeeper contacted by AFP who did not want to give his name.
"Just imagine how we are surviving. Forget the lack of electricity and other problems, the Taliban are everywhere and heavy exchanges of fire are routine at night," the man said.
Air strikes targeted Taliban bastions across Swat, which has sunk from a stunning ski resort favoured by Westerners to a crucible of Taliban violence, where ground troops have yet to take control.
Helicopter gunships also swung into action in the neighbouring district of Lower Dir. where the military has been on the offensive since April 26 after Taliban fighters advanced to within 100 kilometres of Islamabad.