(AKI) - Pakistani security forces on Friday continued an operation against militants in various parts of the troubled Swat valley in the country's North West Frontier Province. One person was killed and two others injured in the town of Charbagh after they violated a curfew that has entered its sixth day, reports quoted security forces as saying.The curfew remains in place in Charbagh, Sangot, Manglore, Kozabandai and Darra Banka areas reports said.
Pakistan's army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani pledged on Wednesday to restore government control of the Swat valley, which is currently controlled by Taliban militants in an Islamist insurgency that began there two years ago.
The Taliban have established their own writ in Swat with a parallel system that includes courts, police and even a electric power-distribution network and road construction.
A Taliban bombing and arson campaign has also forced hundreds of private schools to close in a campaign to end education for girls in the district. The Taliban claim education for girls is un-Islamic. Nany CD shops and barbers' salons have been set ablaze.
Hundreds of people have died in battles between troops and militants in Swat, a mountainous region of the NWFP which until two years ago was a popular tourist area.
Civilians deaths are frequently reported in the violence. The Taliban linked militant leader in Swat, Maulana Fazlullah's men are accused of killing dozens of state employees and government supporters.
Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari, also vowed this week to curb militancy in Swat and prevent the Taliban from setting up its own courts. His pledge came as security forces on Wednesday found eight bullet-ridden bodies in Swat's main town of Mingora on Wednesday.
Pakistan rejects western accusations that its security forces are not doing enough to clamp down on the upsurge of militancy in Swat and other areas of the Northwest which United States believes is a haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.
More than 1,500 people have been killed in a huge surge of militant attacks across Pakistan over the last year and a half, waged by militants opposed to the government's support for the so-called US-led war on terror prosecuted by former president George W. Bush.
The US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, will make his first trip to the region next week, the US State Department said on Thursday.
US President Barack Obama has ordered a review of strategy in the region.