By DPA
Islamabad : At least four pro-Taliban militants were killed Tuesday as helicopter gunships continued to pound their positions for the second consecutive day in Pakistan’s volatile north-western valley of Swat, officials said.
Government forces destroyed four bunkers of the militants in Sambat area in the Swat district, 160 km from the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) capital Peshawar, the military said.
“According to the information that we have received from the local sources, four insurgents were killed in the strike,” army spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told DPA.
“We have also destroyed a check post the militants had set up to tax the people in a nearby area,” he added. Five people were wounded in the incident.
The scenic valley has seen heavy clashes between security forces and militants after the government deployed more than 2,500 paramilitary troops in late October to counter the threat by armed supporters of a radical cleric, Maulana Fazlullah.
He has demanded Islamic law for region and instigated people to rise in arms against the government.
After around a week-long unannounced ceasefire the government forces resumed operations Monday.
President General Pervez Musharraf has cited the situation in Swat as one of the reasons for his decision to proclaim state of emergency Nov 3.
In his first press conference since the imposition of emergency rule, Musharraf Sunday noted that the militants’ advance “is spreading to the settled districts … we have to fight them there.”