By DPA
Islamabad : The Pakistan Army launched a new military operation Sunday to clear out armed Islamic militants spotted in remote areas of the strife-torn Swat Valley in the northwest, where hundreds have died in two months of clashes.
An undisclosed number of soldiers were involved in land and air operations between the towns of Matta and Chuprial after local residents reported that small bands of militants were looting and terrorizing villages.
The valley has been a battlefield since late October when President Pervez Musharraf deployed troops to rein in around 5,000 heavily armed followers of radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah.
Fazlullah, also known as Mullah Radio, incited an armed campaign through a pirated FM radio station to enforce Taliban-style Islamic law in the region. His militia took over numerous villages and at least three main towns in the area, but were later beaten back by the army to their hideouts in the nearby mountains.
Last week, Musharraf accused Fazlullah of playing a part in the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Dec 27, though he did not offer any evidence to back up his claim.
Army officials said in early December that they had killed more than 300 militants and cleared most of the area, but the insurgents continue to carry out guerrilla attacks and suicide bombings against security forces.
During the weekend, security forces captured 10 suspected militants in raids on three villages in Swat, and at least 10 civilians were killed when artillery shells fired by the army landed on a residential area.