Clashes flared late Monday between security forces and militants in Mingora, where a truce and peace agreement have largely held for three months, officials said. Militants attacked two police stations and a power grid in Mingora, the main town in the scenic Swat valley, which was devastated by a nearly two-year Taliban uprising, one official said.
They also shot at a centre that houses an army barracks and administrative offices, the local government official told AFP by telephone on condition of anonymity. "There are heavy exchanges of fire between security forces and militants in different places of Mingora," he said. "Militants blew up a police station, which police evacuated earlier. They also attacked the main police station in Mingora and a local power grid," the official added. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
One local resident confirmed heavy firing. Local authorities threatened Monday to unleash a fresh offensive in the one-time ski resort of Swat, where a February peace deal to enforce Islamic law in a bid to end the Taliban insurgency appeared close to unravelling. But Pakistan's chief military spokesman downplayed the clashes.
"There is firing between the police force and the police station and the militants, but media is creating a little hype. It's not exactly an attack or something very serious," Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.
OUR REPORTER FROM ISLAMABAD ADDS: As many as 15 people - including 10 militants and five security force officials - have been killed during the ongoing military operation in Buner district, and in exchange of fire between the militants and security forces in Swat. The operation in Buner is progressing smoothly and consolidation of positions in Daggar and surrounding areas continues, said a spokesman of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) here on Monday.
The spokesman said the security forces pounded the hideouts of the militants in Kalpani area of Buner in which at least seven miscreants, including one of their commander Afsar Hameed, had been killed, adding that one soldier was also killed in the operation while three others were injured. According to reports, militants are using 2,000 innocent people as human shield in view of impending clearance of Peer Baba by security forces.
In Buner, curfew was also relaxed from 11 am to 2 pm on Monday. In Swat, militants beheaded two soldiers in their captivity in Khawazakhela late on Sunday night, said the sources. In the wee hours on Monday, militants attacked a security forces convoy in Barrikot, resulting in exchange of fire between the militants and the security forces in which an officer embraced Shahadat and two soldiers were injured.
Forces militants raided checkpost at Shangla top, where one soldier embraced Shahadat, they said. In Lower Dir, militants burnt the house of DSP at Kumber (Maidan) and also took away household items from the house of Union Council Nazim of Maidan.
Militants also kidnapped a few civilians from Kot Haya Sarai, in Maidan. The militants, who also set on fire three civilian trucks in Biladram, Chamtalai, destroyed a vacant police checkpost Yakhtangi at Shangla. Security forces at Maidan also came under fire of the militants and in exchange of fire, three militants were killed, they said.
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