3 killed as fighting resumes in Swat

SWAT—Firing in Swat has resumed again after the interval of two days while the gunship helicopters continued to hover around, however, no loss of life was reported. A private TV channel reported that extremists have occupied the civil hospital in Manglour while two rockets were fired on Police station.
Security forces used powerful weapons during retaliation and several rockets landed on the hideouts of security forces in Frontier House. Th e sounds of more than forty blasts were heard, however no loss of life was reported so far. It is further reported that an attempt was made to blow up FRC Police line with explosive material by unidentified persons in Saidu Sharif, which has damaged the wall of Police line.
Unidentified persons set on fire police check post located in Gawalarai in Tehsil Matta and took away the police van and other three vehicles of hospital. Meanwhile, eyewitnesses said that four citizens named Hameed, Hassan Wahab, Hasan Ali and Usman Ali were injured due to the firing of gunship helicopters in Pir Kalay and shifted to civil hospital Matta from where they were discharged after first aid. All the business activities remained closed and routine life was paralyzed in Matta after Wednesday. The local Taliban claimed to fire on gunship helicopter however the official sources could not confirm this claim.
Fighting resumed in Swat after a brief ceasefire, as three civilians were killed, including a woman, and two others injured in the town of Bedra near Matta here on Wednesday. Officials said that militants fired at helicopter gunship on Wednesday while a police station was also attacked with rockets on Tuesday night in Matta, stronghold of Maulana Fazlullah.
Witness said that three civilians were killed including a woman when local Taliban fired rockets at a police station in Bedara, Matta late Tuesday night. The injured were immediately shifted to Matta hospital for treatment. Gunship helicopters continued to hover over the entire Swat Valley during the day to keep a vigil on the movement of people. Local people in Matta, Manglore, Char Bagh, Upper and Lower Banday Sangota, who fled their houses to flee to safer places, have not yet returned to their houses due to fear of further unrest.
Meanwhile, a local Jirga attended by elders and people of different walks of life at Kanju in Swat valley have appealed to the supporters of Maulana Fazlullah to play their role in restoring peace and harmony in the area. The participants of the Jirga held a peace walk from Bandai to Ayub Bridge Kanju, carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans for peace.Pakistan military helicopter gunships strafed Islamic militant positions in the northwestern Swat Valley on Wednesday as a shaky truce collapsed, police and residents said.
Supporters of a firebrand cleric leading a campaign for Taliban-style Islamic law in the former tourist region had called a ceasefire on Monday after four days of clashes that left 60 rebels and several troops dead. But the militants launched several attacks overnight and fired at an army chopper hovering over the town of Matta on Wednesday, prompting the gunship to attack three rebel positions, police officer Mohibullah Khan said. The militants had torched a police checkpost in the valley and detonated a remote-controlled bomb near a police station in Swat’s district headquarters of Saidu Sharif late Tuesday, he said. —Agencies