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| India-Pakistan |
| At least 11 dead as Pakistani rebels ambush police convoy in Swat Valley |
| 2008-10-23 |
| Taliban militants ambushed a convoy of security forces in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley, sparking clashes that left at least five personnel and six rebels dead, officials said Wednesday. The convoy of paramilitary and police vehicles came under attack late on Tuesday in the town of Kabal, a stronghold of insurgents who are trying to impose a strict version of Islamic Sharia law in the restive region. "The initial report ... confirms one policeman and four FC [Frontier Constabulary] men died and some FC soldiers are missing after the ambush," Swat police officer Inam Khan said. The army later launched a counter-attack in the same area, killing five militants and a would-be suicide bomber whose vehicle was blown up when troops opened fire, a security official said. The mountainous Swat Valley was until last year a popular tourist destination known as the "Switzerland of Pakistan" where many Pakistani city dwellers went for their annual holidays and it featured the country's only ski resort. But the region has been turned into a battleground since hard-line Muslim cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who has links to Pakistan's Taliban movement, launched his pro-Sharia campaign. The ski resort, along with a number of government-funded schools for girls, have been burned down. Pakistani fighter-bombers struck a militant hideout in Swat on Sunday, killing two rebel commanders and 25 other men. Separately, at least 10 militants were killed when warplanes bombarded their hideouts in the Bajaur tribal region on Wednesday. "Jets pounded militant hideouts for more than 40 minutes in several areas, killing 10 militants and wounding eight others," a security official said. |
| Posted by:Fred |