Taliban cadres have been carrying out armed patrols on roads in Buner district and established a check post at Pacha Killay over the past few days, local residents were quoted as saying by The News daily.
At least 12 militants, including two key commanders, have been gunned down and 180 suspects arrested by troops in Pakistan's restive Swat valley, where a fresh crackdown was launched against insurgents following the killing of an North West Frontier Province legislator in a suicide blast two days ago.
A hardliner religious leader led hundreds of his supporters in a peace march in the violence-hit north-western Swat valley in Pakistan on Wednesday apparently to convince the Taliban militants to honour a new pact reached with the government which envisages their laying down arms.
She will be visiting her ancestral home in Makan Bagh in Mingora, her school besides inaugurating a girls school in Shangla district.
The army said the militants were apprehended during a search and cordon operation at Kuza Bandai in Swat, where troops have been conducting a major operation since mid-November 2007 to quell the activities of pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah and his followers.
Pakistani security forces claimed to have arrested 35 militants from various areas in the restive northern Swat valley, along with a would-be suicide bomber and cleric.
The troops are moving closer to Shangla and consolidating their positions and eliminating the militants before making a push towards Alpuri.
A large number of militants led by radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah have fled the Swat valley and adjoining Shangla district in the North West Frontier Province. After more than two weeks of fierce clashes with the security forces, key militant leaders had also gone into hiding, the army said.
The bold abduction was carried out when the army and paramilitary forces had suspended operations to break the siege to rescue the trapped personnel, local police officials and TV channels reported. Taliban militants have overrun most of the Swat Valley, called the Switzerland of Pakistan and once the haunt of tourists and rich and this has triggered a massive exodus of residents.
The Taliban had earlier banned music and video centres in the area. But now even pornography is freely available at video centres and mobile shops and sell like hot cakes. Though a number of indigenous movies are the talk of the town, three movies are, to use a Bollywood-ism, a super hit
A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a security check-post in Pakistan's restive Swat valley on Saturday killing at least 10 people and injuring 13 others, a day after multiple blasts in Lahore claimed 45 lives.
Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai reveals her mental health struggles after a marijuana session triggered flashbacks of her attack by the Taliban. She discusses anxiety, panic attacks, and her journey to seek therapy.
Refugees from the Swat valley, displaced by conflict between the Taliban militants and the Pakistani forces in the restive north-west region of the country have started returning home, the United Nations has said.
A convoy of seven army trucks was stopped by armed Taliban militants at Qambar, a small town near Mingora, the main city in Swat valley, witnesses and Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said. Witnesses said the convoy withdrew from Qambar after the Taliban forced the troops to go back, averting any clash.
The Pakistani Taliban have taken control of mines producing precious lapis lazuli stones in the insurgency-hit Swat valley and started operating them on their own. The Taliban have confirmed that they took control of the mines two months ago, when they arrived in the hilly area of Fiza Ghat, a resort on the outskirts of Mingora, the main city in Swat valley. The militants have appointed hundreds of local labourers to work round the clock to excavate lapis lazuli stones.
Taliban militants on Tuesday declared an indefinite ceasefire in Pakistan's restive Swat valley where they have been waging an armed campaign for the last two years. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told reporters in Swat that a meeting of the 'Shura' or 'council' of the militants had decided to extend the ceasefire for an indefinite period. The local Taliban led by Fazlullah had last week called a ten-day unilateral truce to facilitate peace talks.
Pakistani authorities and the local Taliban have agreed to a ceasefire in the troubled Swat valley following peace talks between militants and religious hardliners, a top official said on Saturday. Syed Mohammad Javed, the commissioner for Malakand division which includes Swat, told reporters that the security forces and the Taliban would observe the truce. He made the announcement after meeting Maulana Sufi Mohammad, a hardline cleric who is negotiating with the militants.
Pakistan's parliament on Monday endorsed a move to enforce Islamic laws in the restive northwestern Swat valley, which is largely controlled by the Taliban, and asked President Asif Ali Zardari to accord approval to the measure to usher in peace across the country.The National Assembly or lower house of the parliament adopted a resolution recommending that President Zardari should accord approval to the Nizam-e-Adal Regulation to implement Shariah or Islamic laws in Swat.
Pakistani authorities have released 12 Taliban prisoners in the restive Swat valley as a goodwill gesture in the wake of a peace deal signed by the North West Frontier Province government and religious hardliners.
Gaining an upper hand in the restive Swat valley in north-western Pakistan after signing of a deal with the authorities, an emboldened Taliban has told all Non Government Organisations working in the area to pack their bags, saying their activities are un-Islamic.
The family of a girl who was injured in the Taliban attack on teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai has decided to leave the restive Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan and move to Punjab province for security reasons.
"We are troubled and confused in the sense about what happened in Swat, because it is not an encouraging trend," Richard Holbrooke, the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan told the PBS news channel in an interview.
"Our peace pact agreement with the North West Frontier Province government practically stands dissolved", Taliban spokesman Muslim Khansaid and sought to put the onus on authorities saying "security forces are attacking us".
A suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy market in the troubled Swat valley in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least three persons and injuring 12 others, police said.
Members of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed and militants from South Waziristan tribal region are fighting alongside some 5,000 Taliban fighters in Pakistan's restive Swat valley, chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said on Friday.
Four days after a peace pact was inked between religious hardliners and the North West Frontier Province government, leading cleric Maulana Sufi Mohammad is yet to make Taliban leaders accept the deal, to enforce Islamic laws in the violence-hit Swat valley.Mohammad, who has been holding talks with Taliban leaders, on Friday met its commander Maulana Fazlullah, who is his son-in-law, for direct talks as reports said the Taliban was demanding the withdrawal of security forces.
Congress spokesman Manish Tewari has expressed concern about the agreement between Pakistan and Taliban about the implementation of Shariat laws in the Swat region. Tewari was speaking at a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Tension continues to simmer in Pakistan's Swat valley with fresh troop build-up while the extremists loyal to pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah have released 48 captured soldiers.
Taliban forces in Pakistan have announced a ten-day ceasefire in the restive north western Swat valley, as peace talks between a senior cleric and local authorities are believed to have struck a deal to enforce Shariah laws in some parts of the region.The announcement of the truce came a day after a Chinese engineer, abducted by the Taliban six months back, was set free in Swat as a 'goodwill gesture'.
Pakistani troops on Sunday stepped up the crackdown on militants in a tribal region near Peshawar as the restive Swat valley bordering Afghanistan witnessed fresh violence that killed four people, including two soldiers who died in a bomb blast.
Facing a major Pakistani offensive, the retreating Taliban militants have carried out the gruesome beheading of a captured police official. The police found the decapitated body of a constable in a town in Swat valley, where for the last three months the Pakistan army is carrying out a flushing operation against the Taliban, officials were quoted by TV channels as saying. They said the police constable was kidnapped a week ago by militants.
The military, which has accused the Taliban of violating the accord by abducting and killing civilians and security personnel, said it is awaiting instructions from the government for launching a full-fledged operation in the region located 160 km from Islamabad.
The wealthy landowners who turned the picturesque Swat Valley into a tourist paradise and who are considered to be economic pillars of the region are still shunning away from their native place. The wealthy, who own resorts and hotel and are people with huge land and orchard holdings, are staying away as they are still not confident that the army and authorities would provide them adequate security.
The security forces have cleared and secured the town of Mingora though they are still encountering pockets of militant resistance on the outskirts, chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas was quoted as saying by media reports.
Defence Minister A K Antony said on Friday that the truce between Pakistan and Taliban has added to India's "worries" over the security scenario in the region.
The ground reality is that the government of Pakistan has no choice but make the not-so-fine distinction to save their people getting killed as collateral damage when they fight the Taliban.
Pakistani security forces have retaken a strategic mountain from pro-Taliban militants in the restive Swat valley in north-west Pakistan and shut down an illegal radio station used by their radical head as a propaganda machine.
'Not only will Pakistan see greater domestic turmoil as a result of the passage of this law, but the new regulation will further aggravate tensions between Islamabad and Washington, complicating Western efforts to combat the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan,' Stratfor said.
A furious Taliban leadership has decided to send their fighters to Islamabad as a reaction to the army operations in the Swat valley on the troubled border with Afghanistan.
Pakistani army troops backed by helicopter gunships on Thursday kept up their offensive against armed followers of a pro-Taliban cleric in Swat valley, killing at least 20 militants across the restive region.
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