Islamabad - At least one soldier and 13 Taliban militants were killed on Saturday in clashes between security forces and Islamic militants in Pakistan's north-western Swat valley, a military spokesman claimed. Pakistani troops have been fighting the followers of a radical cleric Maulana Fazlullha, who wants to enforce Taliban rule in Swat, a scenic valley that was formerly a popular tourist destination, since late last year.
"The security forces engaged the suspected hideouts of miscreants in Nalkot area of Matta sub-district," a local military spokesman Colonel Nadeem Ahmad said.
He said 11 militants were killed and one was wounded as an ammunition depot at the house of a militant commander known as Khurshid was also destroyed in the strike.
Separately, government troops exchanged fire with Islamist insurgents in Matta city. "Two miscreants were killed and five injured while one soldier also died," said Ahmad.
Islamabad dispatched thousands of soldiers in October 2007to quell the rebellion of Fazlullah loyalists. Hundreds of people, many of them security personnel, have died in the conflict, which still stands unresolved.
