Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Pakistan news daily Dawn:

A militant and a civilian were killed and five other people were injured when Cobra helicopters and ground forces attacked suspected positions of militants here on Monday, after the government deployed army troops to crush the lingering insurgency in the district.

“Yes, the army has taken over command in Swat from Monday and will lead security forces to eliminate militancy,” military spokesman Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad told Dawn from Islamabad.

Asked if the paramilitary forces had failed to bring the situation under control, he said the forces had taken action but the situation had not improved.

Therefore, he said, the army was deployed at the request of the NWFP government. He said reinforcements were needed in the hostile area.

Local people said the clashes erupted in the valley on Monday after two helicopters came under fire in Matta. They said militants had captured anti-aircraft guns from security forces.

They said the troops and law-enforcement personnel had not made ground advance on areas held by militants.

Three helicopters carried out intense shelling on suspected militants’ positions in Pir Kali, Sambet Chowk and Sairi.

Sources said that one militant was killed and five were injured in the attack. A civilian was killed when a mortar shell reportedly fired from an FC camp in Kabal hit his shop at Koza Bandae.

Fazlullah’s spokesman Maulana Sirajuddin told Dawn that three Taliban had suffered minor injuries.

Militants say they will not surrender or end their movement without achieving their objectives.

“We will lay down arms when the government enforces Sharia in Swat; otherwise we’re ready to die,” Maulana Mohammad Alam, the commander of the militants in Khwazakhela, said at a public meeting on Monday.

On Oct 24, the NWFP government had dispatched hundreds of paramilitary forces and police to establish the state’s writ in parts of the scenic Swat valley under control of Maulana Fazlullah.

Officials believe that Fazlullah, who has set up his own government and courts, has some 4,000 armed supporters in Swat.

At present, six of the eight sub-districts of Swat are under the control of militants. Educational institutions in the area are closed and law-enforcement personnel have abandoned government installations.

Tension intensified in the area after the clashes on Monday and some people left Mata for safe places. A man reportedly died of cardiac failure during an attack by helicopter gunships.

According to the sources, militants occupied on Monday a tea research centre in Kabal and an agriculture office in Mata and expelled their staff. Several government offices and security checkposts were already under the militants’ control.

AFP adds: Security forces on Monday seized in Swat a top militant accused of harbouring Al Qaeda insurgents, beheading troops and supplying arms to Maulana Fazlullah, officials said.

Maj-Gen Arshad confirmed to AFP that security forces had arrested a “top suspect involved in militancy”.

“He is under interrogation. The man identified himself as Parwant and says he is local,” he said, adding the man’s real name was not yet known.

The suspect was involved in “harbouring Al Qaeda” and supplying arms to Fazlullah, a senior security official said, adding that he was also a key suspect in the beheading of paramilitary troops in Swat in October.