12 killed as troops, extremists clash in Swat valley

Islamabad: Taliban militants bombed a convoy of Pakistani troops and opened fire on the survivors, sparking a battle that killed five security officers and seven attackers, police said.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said 15 troops were killed and only five militants died in the attack on Tuesday in Swat valley, a former tourist destination where troops have been battling extremists for a year.

Violent clashes in regions near the Afghan border and suicide bombings across the country are undermining confidence in Pakistan and its already crisis-threatened economy.

Swat police chief Dilawar Bangash said a roadside bomb hit the convoy of trucks and armoured vehicles carrying rations and ammunition through the valley, which lies just 90 miles from the capital.

Militants fired a dozen rockets and heavy gunfire on the stricken convoy, setting off some of the ammunition and killing two paramilitary troops, he said. Other troops then engaged the militants in an hour-long gunbattle, killing seven of them. However, insurgents captured and killed two more troops and a police officer who had run out of bullets, Bangash said.

Government restrictions that ban foreigners and most journalists from the restive frontier region make it very difficult for reporters to verify casualty figures from Swat or Bajur, a nearby district regarded as a haven for Taliban and Al Qaida militants and where officials claim to have killed more than 1,000 insurgents since August.

Praise from US

US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher on Monday praised Pakistani forces for their operations against the militants, who are blamed for attacks on both sides of the frontier.

However, there are doubts about the pro-Western government's ability to deliver on its vows to eliminate well-organised and heavily armed extremist groups who have seized control of swaths of the northwest.

Khan, the Taliban spokesman, said the government is acting on US orders and said the militants should be regarded as Muslim warriors.