Fragile truce as death toll tops 100

SWAT—Hundreds of civilians used a cease-fire Monday between government forces and militant supporters of a pro-Taliban cleric to flee a scenic valley where violence has killed more than 100 people. The conflict has turned the one-time tourist destination into a new front in Pakistan's battle against Islamic extremism.
Authorities sent some 2,500 extra police and troops into Swat district last week to take on supporters of Maulana Fazlullah, a militant preacher who has set up a virtual mini-state and sought to impose strict Islamic rule.
The toll from the resulting clashes about 90 miles northwest of the capital emerged only after the cease-fire took effect early Monday. Security forces backed by helicopter gunships pounded militant hideouts in the mountains Sunday. More than 60 militants were killed, said Badshah Gul Wazir, home secretary of North West Frontier province, which includes Swat.
Wazir said a total of 20 security forces and civilians have been killed since Friday, but gave no breakdown. Eight other troops and four police officers were missing, he said. On Thursday, a suicide attack on a military truck killed 20 people. Sirajuddin, a spokesman for Fazlullah, said the cleric's followers killed 30 troops near the village of Charbagh, and would hand over the bodies only after the army releases some prisoners. There was no official confirmation of his claim.
Arshad Majid, district coordination officer in Swat, said tribal elders and clerics were holding talks with Fazlullah's aides. "The cease-fire was announced by militants after these talks, which are progressing well," Majid told reporters. "We hope there will be peace here soon." Ali Rahman, a local police official, said about 600 people fled the conflict zone Monday, many crammed into buses and others on foot. Some villagers waded across a river and others struggled across fields clutching bags of possessions.
A ceasefire agreement has been reached between Security forces and local Taliban here on Monday after three days of fierce fighting. Provincial police chief has said that a cease-fire has come into force between the security forces and militants in Swat. Talking to a private TV channel Frontier police chief Muhammad Sharif Virk said the exchange of fire between militants and the forces was stopped and the ceasefire has been implemented on both sides.
Militants in Swat agreed to a cease-fire, said District Coordination Officer (DCO) Arshad Majeed. “This is a good thing that the militants have agreed to the cease-fire, and we welcome it,’’ earlier District Coordination Officer (DCO) Swat Arshad Majeed said by telephone. Residents of the scenic Swat Valley say militants announced over the radio that a ceasefire had been reached to allow both sides to collect and bury the dead.
Local officials confirmed there was a mutual understanding to hold fire unless attacked. The fighting started after extra troops were sent to the region last week to curb a pro-Taleban cleric Maulana Fazlullah who had set up his own system of Islamic law. According to US news agency, residents said they had not heard any gunshots early Monday in Swat.
Pro-Taliban militants and security forces reached a cease-fire in a troubled district of northwest Pakistan early Monday after the deaths of another 35 rebel fighters and 16 troops, officials said. —Agencies
The scale of the bloodshed in Swat — a sign of the spreading conflict between Islamist forces and Pakistan’s government — began emerging as the cease-fire took effect around 8 a.m. following negotiations between associates of radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah and senior officials.
A once-peaceful valley that used to draw tourists because of its mountain scenery, Swat has been wracked by violence since about 2,500 government forces were deployed there last week to tackle Fazlullah, who has challenged the state with a campaign to spread fundamentalist Islam. An army official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media, said 16 paramilitary troops were killed Friday when militants blew up their truck in the Nawakili area. The report of that bombing only emerged Monday.
Security forces backed by helicopter gunships on Sunday pounded militant hideouts in the mountains of the district. At least 35 militants died in the fierce fighting, two local police officials said, also on condition of anonymity. Ali Rahman, a local police official, said the militants were now burying comrades slain since Friday. He said villagers who fled to Swat town because of the fighting had seen militants’ bodies scattered in the forest. He said they had also seen the corpses of paramilitary troops.
Arshad Majid, a senior district official, welcomed the cease-fire. “Because of the fighting, the militants could not collect the bodies of their men, and we also could not count them. We will be in a better position today to say how many people died,” he said.
Witnesses said they heard a couple of explosions in the region early Monday, but in the police control room at Swat they had yet to receive reports of a resumption in fighting. Sirajuddin, a spokesman for Fazlullah who goes by one name, said they had killed 30 troops near the village of Charbagh and would hand over the bodies only after the army releases an unspecified number of prisoners. There was no official confirmation of his claim.
He said the cease-fire was holding. “But, if the security forces attack us, our people would also target them with weapons,” he told an Associated Press Television News reporter in Fazlullah’s besieged home village of Imam Dehri. He said their struggle was to enforce Islamic law. “We will continue this struggle,” he said, as supporters used loudspeakers to issue calls for jihad, or holy war. The violence erupted Thursday, when a suicide attack tore through a military truck, killing 19 paramilitary troops and one civilian.
Security forces then attacked Fazlullah’s stronghold, provoking militants to kidnap and kill 13 troops, police and civilians on Friday. Some of the bodies were beheaded by militants and displayed in public. The fighting intensified on Sunday. Local officials said police and paramilitary troops were being treated at a local hospital. Mohammed Ijaj, a hospital official, said they had also received 11 injured civilians overnight.
Fazlullah is the leader of the banned pro-Taliban group Tehrik Nifaz-e-Sharia Mohammedi, or Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law. He has launched a Taliban-style Islamization campaign in the Swat region and has called for holy war against the government.
The growing instability in northwestern Pakistan, which borders Afghanistan has shaken the authority of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S. war on terror. In Malakand, a rugged area bordering Swat, authorities dropped pamphlets from airplanes Sunday urging residents to help “the government in purging (Malakand) of terrorists,” the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported. The government made similar appeals in Swat on Saturday.