By DPA
Islamabad : Up to 70 pro-Taliban militants were killed Thursday as helicopter gunships pounded their hideouts in Pakistan’s volatile north-western valley of Swat, officials said.
“The insurgents attacked a law enforcing agencies’ post at Khwaza Khela around 4:30 local time this morning and the security forces retaliated with small arms and mortar fire,” military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told DPA.
Local authorities confirmed 60 to 70 of the militants have been killed in the ongoing operation, he added.
The latest clashes came a day after a two-day truce collapsed on Wednesday in the scenic valley, located some 160 km from the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) capital Peshawar, triggering several hours’ firefight that left 18 militants dead.
The total death toll in almost a week of violence in Swat has risen to more than 180, with 70 killings Thursday.
The fighting erupted when the government deployed additional troops to curb attacks in the region instigated by Islamic firebrand cleric Maulana Fazlullah.
For several months he had been trying to enforce Taliban-style rule in the region by setting up Islamic courts. His 400-men strong Shaheen Commando Force took the task of maintaining law and order in its own hands.
Fazlullah, 32, declared a holy war against the security forces after the military stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad on July. More than 400 people have died in the retaliatory attacks on law enforcers since then.