Pakistani ground forces entered Taliban-held areas of the Swat Valley on Sunday, after a warning was issued to hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate the area. Yousaf Raza Gilani, the country's prime minister, called the mission a war for "the country's survival".
The toD verdict: The strict curfew usually in place over the Swat Valley was temporarily lifted on Sunday to allow the mass exodus of residents before the entry of government troops. The operation was approved the previous day by the Federal Cabinet, who declared that military action was the last possible option after the failure of efforts to reach a peaceful solution. According to Pakistani officials, the war will not be fought conventionallly, focusing instead on countering the militant's guerrilla tactics. Troops in the Swat Valley now number between 12,000 and 15,000, against a suspected 5,000 Taliban insurgents. An estimated half a million civilians will be displaced by the fighting in the Swat Valley, with as many as 1.3 million left homeless.
The decision to invade the Swat Valley was taken by the Pakistani government during a trip by President Asif Ali Zardari to the US to meet with his American and Afghan counterparts, Barack Obama and Hamid Karzai. The Pakistani government has been quick to dispel claims that they reacted in response to international pressure. Washington's representatives, keen for more action from Zardari's government, have expressed their concerns that the Swat Valley could turn into a base for Islamist militants, destabilising both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Indeed, last week US General David Petraeus voiced his concern that the Pakistani government could fall to the Taliban in just two weeks. However, the US military has restated their refusal to send troops into Pakistan.
A session of the National Assembly began on Monday to assess the situation and gain parliamentary approval for the operation in the Swat Valley.
Right-wing rally overwhelmed by peaceful protestors in Cologne
A "Stop Islam" rally was organised by the far-right movements Pro Koeln and Pro NRW in Cologne on Saturday following their opposition to plans to construct a large mosque on the outskirts of the city. The mosque will attempt to remedy the current lack of space for Turkish-speaking Muslim congregations. Nationalists from across Europe were invited to attend the demonstration, which Islamic countries such as Iran had urged the German government to forbid. However, numbers at the right-wing rally only reached around 300 and paled in comparison to the thousands of peaceful protestors who had gathered to oppose the "anti-Islam" rally. After bouts of violence between police and left-wing protestors, the rally was declared illegal on grounds of public safety to the praise of, amongst others, Cologne's mayor Fritz Schramma. Germany's Muslim community numbers around three million and accounts for four percent of the total population.
Fifteen die in mortar attack in Mogadishu
The weekend saw outbreaks of violence in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, with a mortar attack on a mosque on Sunday resulting in at least 15 fatalities. The attack came after the deaths of around 50 people, and the wounding of 100 more, in fighting that took place across the city between government troops and al-Shabaab insurgents. Heavy artillery and anti-aircraft weapons were used by both sides in a dispute that shows the government's increasing powerlessness in the capital and southern regions of Somalia. The rebel group al-Shabaab, for whom al-Qaeda have declared their support, have in recent weeks intensified attacks on government targets in an attempt to overthrow those in power.
General Jones on Afghanistan: "We can't fight with one hand tied behind our back"
The Afghan president Hamid Karzai has once more spoken out against the air strikes used by the US military in his country, blaming them and not his government's purported corruption for the gulf that exists between the two countries. President Karzai indicated that his relationship with US President Barack Obama had not matured to the same level as that of Obama's predecessor, with whom Karzai had had "seven years of a relationship. Tensions have been on the increase with the continued unilateral strikes carried out by the US military in Afghanistan and their high civilian casualties, but on Sunday General James L. Jones, the top US security adviser, said that US airstrikes would continue. American troops in Afghanistan are expected to number more than 60,000 by the end of the year.
Claims that white phosphorus was used during a battle between the US and Taliban insurgents last week in Farah Province are being investigated by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. The American military denies the use of the chemical, saying that the death toll of 147 is an exaggeration.
In other news, at least nine people died in two successive suicide attacks in Helmand province which took place near a police station on Monday. Zemarai Bashary, an interior ministry spokesman, blamed the attacks on "the enemies of Afghanistan's people, the terrorists", a euphemism which generally refers to Taliban fighters. The attacks came just one day after the death of seven people at the hands of suicide bombers in the town of Gereshk, also in Helmand province.
Suicide bomb detonated in crowded Baghdad market
A market explosion in Baghdad resulted in the death of 11 people and injured 30 last Wednesday. The suicide bombing took place after a pick-up truck was abandoned at the al-Rasheed market, which is located in the southern Dura area and is one of the largest co-operative produce markets in the Iraqi capital. This attack was the latest in a string of suicide bombings that have been on the increase in the lead-up to US withdrawal from the country. April saw an increase in violence to levels matching those of last September, and indications have come from both American and Iraqi officials that troops may remain in some particularly restive areas even past the withdrawal date.
Hundreds of civilians die as Sri Lanka conflict rages on
Doctors in Sri Lanka tending to the wounded on Sunday reported that over 370 civilians had died after an all-night raid laid waste to areas in the northeastern conflict zone. Attacks on hospital and civilian targets are increasing in this long-enduring conflict, and over the weekend Human Rights Watch condemned the Sri Lankan army for its strikes on hospitals in the conflict zone. Both government officials and representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have blamed Sunday's attack, which left an additional 1100 people injured, on the other party. Whilst the LTTE accused the state military of launching attacks on designated no-fire zones, the government has denied this and turned accusations around on the LTTE who, they say, are responsible for the shelling of Tamil civilian areas in an attempt to implicate the government. Reliability of such claims remains difficult to gauge due to the banning of journalists and humanitarian organisations from the conflict zone.
