PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — At least eight police and security workers were killed Saturday when a remote-controlled bomb exploded near their vehicle in northwestern Pakistan's troubled Swat valley, officials said.
Another five policemen were wounded in the blast in the valley's Kabal district, local police officer Alam Khan said. "Their condition is very serious," Khan told AFP.
The dead included six police and two paramilitary soldiers, he said.
The roadside blast followed the launch Tuesday of a security operation in the former tourist resort after militants killed three Pakistani intelligence officials and dozens of rebels attacked a checkpost.
Officials said the police party was returning to base after a search operation in Kabal district when the bomb planted by militants went off.
Their vehicle was badly damaged, Khan said, adding that the bodies of two policemen were "badly mutilated."
The valley has been rocked by fierce clashes in which more than 45 militants loyal to a pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah have been killed, according to officials.
Troops continued to pound suspected militant positions in Kabal, Matta and Charbagh districts, residents said, adding that a shell hit a house in Kabal, killing a woman and wounding her child.
Security officials said 15 civilians have also died so far. The military says five soldiers have been killed.
Militants torched three girls' schools and also blew up a bridge near the valley's main town Mingora, officials said.
An official statement said militants have so far destroyed 61 schools serving around 17,000 children in the valley.
The rebel Taliban movement has threatened to launch suicide attacks across the country if the military fails to halt the operation against followers of Fazlullah.
Mountainous Swat was a thriving tourist resort until last year, when pro-Taliban Fazlullah launched a violent campaign to enforce harsh Islamic Sharia law in the region.
The latest flare-up in Swat threatened a peace deal the militants signed with the government in May.
Under the deal, the government agreed to gradually pull out troops and introduce an Islamic justice system. In exchange, the rebels said they would halt attacks and surrender their arms.
Residents said life was paralysed in the scenic valley, where schools, offices and markets remained shut.
Many people took advantage of a two-hour break in the curfew Saturday to move to safer areas following the civilian casualties, residents said.
Officials said a meeting attended by senior civil and military officials here decided that the operation would continue until the objective of ensuring civilians' safety had been achieved.
"Trouble-makers will not be allowed to spread anarchy and chaos in the valley," a government official said.
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