Pakistan ? The Pakistani Taliban have vowed to resist until the “last breath” as security forces entered two militant-held towns and fought on the outskirts of a third in what could turn into bloody urban battles near the Afghan border.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan made the defiant statements late Sunday after a top official said the military offensive in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas had killed more than 1,000 suspected militants and would proceed until the last insurgent is “flushed out.”

Washington has pressed Islamabad to crack down on al-Qaida and Taliban strongholds along the Afghan frontier, saying the militants threaten not only U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan but also nuclear-armed Pakistan’s future.

Swat was once a tourist destination that fell prey to Taliban advances over the past two years.