'Taliban seize' Pakistan policemen

04/02/2009| IslamWeb

Thirty Pakistani policemen are reported to have been captured by Taliban fighters in the northwest Swat Valley after they laid siege to a police station.

"Taliban kidnapped 30 policemen and blew up the police office after a day-long fight," Dilawar Khan, a regional police commander, said on Wednesday.

Army troops were sent to the Shamozai area in an effort to rescue the police officers but the operation was suspended after dusk fell, security officials said.

Four paramilitary and police officers were wounded in the clashes around the police station, a Pakistani intelligence official said.

Civilians threatened

Pakistan has carried out a series of military operations against Taliban-linked fighters in the region in recent months.

Thousands of people living in the Swat valley have fled their homes to escape clashes between government forces and opposition fighters.

Many of the fighters are loyal to Maulana Fazlullah, a religious leader who since mid-2007 has led an armed campaign aimed at promoting Sharia.

Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, said that scores of public buildings in Swat Valley have been destroyed amid the fighting.

While visiting the Swat Valley, Hyder found evidence that the conflict is widening from the upper reaches of the valley to other areas.

"The failure of a political settlement has led to a more intense military confrontation here. People here will tell you that the military solution alone will not work," he said.

"The provincial government that rules the Northwest Frontier Province [which contains the Swat Valley] has failed totally.

"From what we have seen, the problem has spread from upper Swat and is spreading to lower Swat. What happens next is anybody's guess."

About 50 fighters were killed in military operations across the valley between Monday and Tuesday, security and intelligence officials have said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Pakistan army troops on patrol in Koza Banda area of the northwestern Swat district in 2008.

Al-Jazeera