Pakistani Taliban militants shot dead eight police in a northwestern Pakistani town close to restive Swat valley, officials said today. "A group of ten armed militants attacked a police check post in Bunir and shot dead eight police officials deployed there," the local police official Sardar Hameed said of Friday night's incident. "These militants came from Swat valley to attack the post," Mr Hameed added.
A spokesman for the militants, Haji Muslim Khan, confirmed the killings. "Our men attacked the check post and shot dead police officials," he told reporters by telephone in Mingora, the main town in Swat. "We will continue targeting all those police officials who are taking part in the ongoing military operation against us," he added. Swat was a thriving tourist resort until last year, when the radical pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah launched a violent campaign to enforce Sharia law in the region.
The government signed a peace deal with the Swat militants in May and agreed to gradually pull out troops and introduce an Islamic justice system in the valley. In exchange, the rebels said they would halt attacks and surrender their arms. But violence erupted again in the area in recent weeks, adding to US concerns about Islamabad's efforts to negotiate with hardliners based near the Afghan border.
*AFP