Islamabad - Pakistani security forces killed 10 Islamist militants in an overnight raid on a rebel redoubt in north-western Swat district, the military said on Thursday. The picturesque valley, once a tourism hub, has regained relative peace after thousands of troops with air support routed the Taliban fighters this spring, but isolated skirmishes are still routine.
Army spokesman Major Mushtaq Khan said soldiers attacked the rebels in Seigram village, 25 kilometers north-west of Swat's main town of Mingora.
The hideout was identified by an important militant commander, Mohammad Naseem Shah alias Abu Faraj, who was captured by the army in September, the military said.
"An exchange of fire took place, resulting in the death of 10 miscreants," Khan said, adding that one soldier was wounded.
Abu Faraj, who was described as the region's master bomb-maker and trainer of suicide attackers, was also killed in Wednesday's assault. The army had brought him along on the raid to guide them.
Troops intensified search operations in Swat after a teenage suicide bomber killed an anti-Taliban provincial lawmaker at his home on Tuesday.
Pakistan's military operations in Swat won the praise of Western governments, and paved the way for a major offensive in the Taliban heartland of South Waziristan near the Afghan border.
The army says it has killed more than 600 hardcore Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in the Waziristan region since mid-October, while losing at least 70 soldiers in combat.
It is believed that most of the estimated 10,000 militants have fled the rugged territory to regroup in the neighbouring tribal badlands before beginning a new guerrilla war with the government forces.
They have also intensified their attacks on the government, the military and civilians in urban centres, killing hundreds of people over the last two months.
