The Hindu : Front Page : Ten militants killed in NWFP clashes

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Monday, Oct 29, 2007
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Ten militants killed in NWFP clashes

Nirupama Subramanian

Radical cleric defiant

ISLAMABAD: The Swat valley of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) continued to resound with the sounds of shelling and artillery for a third straight day on Sunday as security forces engaged Islamist militants running a parallel government in the district that was known not long ago as the Switzerland of Pakistan.

A military statement quoting “local sources” said 10 militants were killed in the day’s fighting. Clashes were reported from several parts of Swat, including Charbagh, Matta, Manglor and Court.

The military confirmed it was using helicopter gunships to back up ground operations by the Frontier Corps paramilitaries who are trying to regain control over 59 villages of the district which are in the control of militants at present. Security forces were pounding militant strongholds with mortars and other heavy weapons.

The entire valley was in the grip of tension throughout the day. Civilians were fleeing the district in large numbers. There is no word yet on civilian or military casualties. On Friday, the militants beheaded 13 persons they had abducted, including six paramilitary personnel.

The whereabouts of the firebrand Maulana Fazlullah, who preaches Taliban-style rule over an illegal radio station, are unknown. In a phone-in interview to Aaj TV on Friday, Maulana Fazlullah said the military had no business trying to enter “our areas”.

“Swat is not Islamabad that the government can establish its writ here,” he said.

ANI reports from Kabul:

Nearly 80 Taliban militants were killed when they tried to ambush a patrol of Afghan and international soldiers in the south Afghanistan, said the U.S.-led international coalition.

The coalition said the troops were forced to call in air support when they were ambushed in the highly volatile province of Helmand.

“The combined patrol immediately returned fire, manoeuvred, and employed close air support, resulting in death of almost seven dozen Taliban militants,” it said in a statement.

The attackers fled after the clash in the town of Musa Qala, said the statement, which made no reference to any coalition or civilian casualties.

The Afghan commander for Helmand told a foreign news agency that only the Taliban had sustained casualties.

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