By DPA
Islamabad : Pakistani helicopter gunships Monday launched strikes against pro-Taliban militants who seized large areas of territory in the northwest of the country in recent weeks, officials said.
The helicopters were targeting enemy positions around the town of Matta in the Swat district, 160 km from the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) capital Peshawar, the military said.
“Whatever steps are necessary will be taken now that the army has assumed the lead role in Swat,” army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said a day after President Pervez Musharraf announced that the army will take control of operations from paramilitary forces.
“We’ll make sure that extremism in that area is defeated and that those criminals are brought to book,” Arshad added.
Once a popular tourist destination and located just four hours by road from the capital Islamabad, the mountainous Swat district has seen heavy fighting in the past two weeks between government forces and militants seeking imposition of Sharia law.
More than 2,500 paramilitary troops were deployed in late October to counter the threat by armed supporters of a radical cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, who has instigated an Islamist rebellion through a local radio station.