ISLAMABAD — Pakistani troops backed by attack helicopters stepped up an operation to push the Taliban farther from the capital Friday, saying they killed at least 55 fighters.
But the government was resisting Western pressure to expand the crackdown and abandon peace talks with militants who want to impose their brand of Islam across this nuclear-armed country.
The army launched the drive to retake Buner, a poor, hilly region just 60 miles from Islamabad, on Tuesday after Taliban from the neighboring Swat Valley overran it under cover of a controversial peace pact.
The Obama administration has welcomed the assault. It views the Swat deal, which calls for the imposition of Islamic law in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, as a surrender to allies of al-Qaeda.
The government in Islamabad is refusing to extend the operation beyond Buner and halt the peace talks favored by many Pakistanis skeptical of Western goals in the region.
On Friday, the army said its troops routed about 80 militants dug in on the Ambela Pass leading into Buner from the south. Soldiers and helicopters in the Ambela area destroyed about a dozen cars and motorbikes laden with explosives, apparently for suicide missions, said spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas.
He said that warplanes bombed several militant bases farther north and that at least 55 militants had died, bringing the total killed since operations began to more than 100, according to the army.
