MINGORA: Forty-eight militants, including a commander, and five soldiers were killed and scores of others injured as fierce clashes continued in the restive Swat Valley for the second straight day on Wednesday.

The fighting erupted on Tuesday after the militants attacked a security post in their known stronghold in the Matta Tehsil and took about 25 security personnel hostage.After the overnight pounding of various positions of the militants, the security forces, backed by gunship helicopters, carried out an operation and shelled suspected militant positions in several troubled parts of the valley, including Peuchar, Namal, Ronial, Sarbanda and Chuprial that left 48 dead and as many injured.

The Taliban militants also claimed killing 25 security personnel, but the claim could not be confirmed independently.A spokesman for the ISPR said in the daylong clashes with the militants, one officer, a junior officer and three soldiers were killed. The security forces have taken bodies of the 40 militants into custody.

The security forces and militants clashed in Sijbanr area of Matta Tehsil in which, according to the ISPR spokesman, about 25 militants were killed. In Sarbanda area of the Tehsil, hundreds of militants attacked the troops and claimed killing 30 security personnel. The claim was rejected by the ISPR, saying only two officers and three soldiers were killed in the attack. They were identified as Major Zia, Subedar Asghar, Hawaldar Afzal, Hawaldar Bashir and Sepoy Anwar. Their bodies were shifted to their native villages by helicopters.

The security forces killed 12 militants and injured several when they attacked the militants, who had laid siege to the Matta police station.The militants targeted the Wenai check-post with rockets and one militant was killed when the security forces retaliated.

Backed by gunship helicopters, the security forces also attacked suspected positions of the militants in the far-flung and mountainous area of Peuchar, killing an important commander Maulvi Hussain Ali alias Tor Mulla and 10 others. The attack also left six militants, including commander Nisar, injured.

The local military officials said curfew across the Swat Valley would remain in place till further notice.The militants also blocked roads in Kabal Tehsil, Chota Kalam, Ningwalai and other mountainous areas with huge boulders and tree trunks suspending traffic on the Matta-Mingora road.

In Jura area of Matta Tehsil, shelling by the Army gunship helicopters injured 13 people. They could not be taken to hospital as curfew remained in place for the entire day.In Shangwatai area of the Tehsil, two persons were killed as the peach orchard, they were working in, was targeted by military gunship helicopters.

It has also been reported that about 24 mortar shells landed in Nihag Darra area on the Swat-Dir border leaving two persons, including a woman, wounded.The militants also blew up the PTDC motel in Malam Jabba, which they had torched earlier, and an Army rest house in Charbagh Tehsil. They also blew up a government girls’ school in Gulibagh and bridges in Gurra, Ronial and other areas of Matta.

AP adds: Muslim Khan, spokesman for local Taliban, while speaking to The Associated Press by telephone, said only five Taliban had been killed in the clashes and claimed that they had killed more than 30 security forces.

“The morale of our Taliban is high and security forces are retreating in several areas,” he said. He said the militants were fighting in self-defence and blamed the government for “not honouring” the May peace agreement. He stopped short of saying the agreement was dead.“If the government doesn’t announce a formal end to this deal, neither will we,” Khan said. Talks, for the moment, were out of question, he added.



http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=16328

MashAllah good work by the Army!!

My prayers for the Army Shaheeds who embraced martyrdom in fighting these animals.