Pakistan says Swat's main town under control

By Simon Cameron-Moore

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani forces have regained full control of Mingora, a week after re-entering the main town in the Swat valley to dislodge thousands of Taliban fighters, the military said on Saturday.

Recapturing Mingora, 130 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, would raise the prospect that some of more than 2 million people who have fled the conflict zone could soon begin to go home, alleviating a humanitarian crisis.

"It's very good that Mingora city has come under the full control of the security forces," military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas told a news conference.

The United States and other Western allies have been heartened by the army's show of resolve. There had been fears for the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons if the Taliban threat had been allowed to spread any closer to the capital.

Around 300,000 people lived in Mingora until the Taliban occupied the town in early May when the army first launched an offensive in Swat, an alpine valley in the northwest.

The security forces have secured an area of up to 70 km (44 miles) north of Mingora, including the town of Bahrain, Abbas said, though before the news conference he told Reuters there were still pockets of resistance on the outskirts of Mingora.

Abbas said medical teams and food supplies had arrived in Mingora, which had been cut off since the start of the month.

Gas supplies were restored, but the electricity grid needed repair, and the spokesman said it would take at least two weeks to restore amenities.