Islamabad - At least 23 people, including 20 militants, were
killed in overnight attacks by Islamist insurgents amid security
operations by government forces in north-west Pakistan, officials and
media reports said Monday.
Helicopter gunships and artillery pounded several positions of
militants in the restive Swat district, where troops are fighting
followers of radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who wants to enforce
Taliban-style rule in the region.
'According to preliminary information, more than 15 insurgents
have died and half a dozen sustained injuries in the security
action,' a local military official said.
A female councillor was gunned by unknown gunmen who broke into
her house early Monday in the Mingora area of the district.
Mohammad Jamil, a resident, said Taliban gunmen had warned her to
abandon 'immoral activities' she was suspected of carrying out.
A political worker from the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, Siraj
ud Din, was also assassinated by suspected Islamist insurgents while
he was on his way home after prayers in a mosque.
The killings came as the conflict between Taliban and security
forces in Swat, formerly a popular tourist destination in North
Western frontier Province, completed one year.
Separately, a policeman was killed when insurgents attacked a
police check post in Hangu district of NWFP with rocket-propelled
grenades and assault rifles. One policeman was killed in the ambush,
the Geo news channel reported.
Troops also targeted locations of militants in the tribal Mohmand
district, where Pakistani troops launched a major offensive to
eliminate sanctuaries of Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.
'Five miscreants died and numerous were injured,' another security
official said.
Local tribesmen, who vowed not to support the Islamic extremists
after negotiations with the government officials, handed over 17
Taliban rebels to the authorities, Geo TV said.
Inspector General Police NWFP Malik Naveed said 25 militants have
so far been killed and 40 more arrested over the one week of the
offensive during which the law enforcers took control 21 of 25
villages previously held by insurgents in Charsadda district of the
province as they advanced towards the tribal district.
'Three policemen embraced shahdat (martyrdom) in the action,' he
added.
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