Security forces arrest 120 militants in Swat

SWAT:

Security forces arrested 120 suspected militants from the Shokh Dara area of Tehsil Matta in Swat on Monday.

A curfew was imposed in the area when seven militants were killed on Sunday, after security forces targeted militants in a retaliatory operation.

Updated from print edition (below)

Seven militants killed in Swat fighting

Security forces killed at least seven militants in different areas of Matta tehsil of Swat on Sunday. According to the military, terrorists opened fire on security forces on Saturday night, injuring one soldier. In retaliatory operations in the areas of Bara Durush Khela, Tit Panrai, Arkot, Shukh Dara, Roring Gar and Chuprial, security forces killed at least seven militants.

The slain militants have been identified by local residents as Ghafoor Khan, Muhammad Ali, Ibrahim, Nasib Zada, Jamal, Azim and Inayatullah. A search operation is ongoing in the Shukh Dara area since Saturday night where security forces have imposed a curfew. Several suspects have been rounded up so far.

In a related incident, security forces recovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunition during a search operation in the Sigram Koza Bandai area of Kabal tehsil. The haul included AK-47 assault rifles, bombs, detonators and a large number of bullets. Koza Bandai used to be the stronghold of the Swat chapter of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, from where Maulana Fazlullah used to broadcast his inflammatory speeches against the government.

Meanwhile, nine people were wounded after a suicide bomber struck a busy marketplace in North Waziristan tribal agency, officials said on Sunday.

The bombing took place in the Shakai village, security officials said. Tribal administration official Sajjad Ahmad said the market was filled with shoppers buying sacrificial animals.

Local intelligence officials said the target of the attack was an anti-Taliban tribal commander Tehseel Khan, who was sitting in a shop close to where the bomber detonated.

“Tehseel Khan was the (intended) target. He was slightly injured in the bombing,” a local intelligence official said.

A major ground and air offensive in South Waziristan was launched last year to clear the area of the Tehreek-i-Taliban militants, who have been blamed for some of the worst incidents of violence in the country. (With additional input from AFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2010.