By Robert Birsel
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's army chief ordered his men on Wednesday to ensure civilian casualties are kept to a minimum, even if that meant danger for them, in an offensive against Taliban militants in the Swat valley.
The offensive, launched last week after the United States accused the government of "abdicating" to militants, has broad political and public support.
But that could change if many civilians are killed or if the hundreds of thousands displaced by the fighting suffer unduly.
"(Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani) has instructed the army to ensure minimum collateral damage, even at the expense of taking risks, by resorting to precision strikes," the army said in a statement.
The offensive was launched when President Asif Ali Zardari was in Washington assuring the United States his government was not about to collapse and was committed to fighting militancy.
Pakistani action against militants in its northwest is vital for U.S. efforts to defeat al Qaeda and stabilise Afghanistan.
About 15,000 security forces members face about 5,000 militants in the Swat region, the military says.
Government aircraft attacked militants in the Peochar valley on Wednesday, military officials said.
Helicopter-borne soldiers swooped into the Taliban stronghold, a side valley off the main Swat valley, on Tuesday and established a firm hold that night, the military said.
Eleven militants and five soldiers had been killed in various clashes in Swat over the previous 24 hours, it said. The military said on Tuesday 751 militants and 29 soldiers had been killed in the offensive.
Reporters have left Swat and there was no independent confirmation of that estimate of militant casualties. A Taliban spokesman said only seven of his men had been killed.
"Morale is high. All areas are still under our control," spokesman Muslim Khan said by telephone. Khan threatened members of parliament from Swat, saying they should resign or their families would be hunted down and their property destroyed.
BEHEADED BODIES
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in Pakistan for an economic conference, told Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani his government would launch a similar offensive, Gilani's office said, adding Karzai fully backed Pakistan's efforts.
The military says there have been no reports of civilian casualties in its actions as soldiers were targeting militants in hideouts in mountains and urban warfare had not started.
Five beheaded bodies had been found in different parts of Mingora, Swat's main town, it said.
The region has been under a curfew for days, apart from a couple of breaks to let people flee.
Residents began fleeing late last month when the army attacked the Taliban in two districts near Swat they had occupied in violation of a February peace pact aimed at ending violence in the former tourist valley.
A senior military official overseeing help for the displaced said on Tuesday an estimated 800,000 civilians had fled from the latest fighting. They were joining about 500,000 displaced by earlier fighting in the northwest.
The U.N. refugee agency said it has registered more than 670,000 displaced from the latest fighting. Many people are believed not to have bothered to register.
Of that total, about 80,000 were staying in camps, and the rest with friends, relatives, in rented accommodation or in "spontaneous settlements" that were springing up, it said.
The United Nations has warned of a protracted humanitarian crisis for a country already being propped up by a $7.6 billion International Monetary Fund loan.
Kayani said while collateral damage and displacement had to be expected, managing the displaced was as important as the military operation.
The army, which played a major role in helping survivors of a big earthquake in 2005, was donating part of its rations to the relief effort, enough to feed about 80,000 adults a day, it said.
Pakistani stocks ended lower on Wednesday as investors, reluctant to take long positions while the military fought the Taliban, sold shares to book profits after early gains.
The Karachi Stock Exchange's benchmark 100-share index ended 0.74 percent, or 54.30 points lower at 7,242.60 on Wednesday.
(Additional reporting by Junaid Khan and Faisal Aziz; Editing by Jerry Norton)
