Swat Valley soldiers battle Taliban militants

Kuala Lumpur News.Net
Monday 24th November, 2008

At least 13 people, including a female councillor and a policeman, have been killed in attacks by Taliban militants and government forces in north-west Pakistan.

Helicopter gunships and artillery pounded several positions of militants in restive Swat district, where the troops are fighting the followers of a radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who wants to enforce Taliban-style rule in the region.

Military officials have put the insurgent death toll at between 10 and 12 men.

A female councillor was gunned by unknown gunmen who broke into her house on Monday in the Mingora area of the district.

Before shooting, Taliban gunmen had warned her to abandon so-called immoral activities she had been 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 offering prayer in the 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.

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.

Separately, a policeman was killed when insurgents attacked a police check post in Hangu district with rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles.

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