Pakistan army 'advances in Swat'

Pakistan's army says it has retaken high ground from Taleban militants in a district of the north-west where many civilians died in weekend fighting.Charbagh district near Mingora, the main town in Swat valley, has been the scene of a major battle since Saturday.Witnesses said five more bodies were found on Monday, taking the number of dead civilians since Saturday to 25.The clash is the latest in an operation against an increasingly powerful Taleban insurgency in the valley.The military launched its offensive last week in response to a public outcry over the Taleban's growing strength in Swat.The militants have tightened their hold on the scenic valley, banning girls' education, setting up their own courts and killing those they oppose, sometimes beheading their victims.
'Died down'
"There has been heavy fighting in the area, and the militants resisted fiercely, so civilian deaths cannot be ruled out," an official at the army's media centre in Mingora told the BBC on Monday.He said that security forces had retaken all strategic heights in the Charbagh area, but that fighting had died down for the moment.Witnesses in Charbagh said five more bodies, all of them of non-combatant residents, were discovered in the area on Monday morning.On Sunday, officials in Mingora confirmed that 20 civilians had been killed since Saturday night.The army also said on Sunday that at least 16 militants and two soldiers had been killed in the battle.Meanwhile, residents of Mingora's north-western suburban neighbourhood of Sangota reported seeing eight bodies whom local people had been unable to identify.
In Mingora's southern neighbourhood of Rahimabad, witnesses said a beheaded body of a policeman was found.Correspondents based in Mingora said thousands of people were moving out of Charbagh area to escape the fighting.In some cases the fleeing families were leaving behind their dead, they said.