By BERNAMA,
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (ANTARA/AFP) – Taliban militants killed five people, including three policemen, in clashes with tribesmen and police after seizing control of a mountain top in northwest Pakistan, police said Tuesday.
“Five people, including three policemen, were killed during an exchange of fire overnight between a tribal force and the Taliban in Buner near Swat valley,” local police official Sher Khan told AFP by telephone.
“We recovered five dead bodies from the area,” he said adding that one civilian was wounded during the exchange of fire.
Another security official confirmed the incident, saying skirmishes were continuing in a bid to evict the Taliban from the mountain top.
Residents and police officials said a group of some 60 Taliban militants armed with light and heavy weapons managed to cross from Swat and take control of the mountain top in neighboring Buner district.
“We can still hear intermittent exchanges of fire between militants and Lashkar men,” Sher Khan added referring to a tribal force.
Last February, the Pakistan government signed a controversial deal with a pro-Taliban cleric to allow sharia law in Swat.
The deal triggered alarm around the world among those fearful that it would embolden militants across the northwest, a hotbed for the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Thousands of Taliban followers spent nearly two years waging a terrifying campaign to enforce sharia law in Swat — beheading opponents, bombing girls` schools, outlawing entertainment and fighting government forces.