MILITANTS in northwestern Pakistan executed 13 people, including six members of the security forces, in apparent retaliation for a crackdown on their stronghold, an official and residents said.
The Swat valley in the North West Frontier Province was the scene of a fierce battle between the security forces and followers of a radical Muslim cleric yesterday after authorities sent more than 2000 soldiers to counter growing militancy.
At least 17 paramilitary soldiers and four civilians were killed in a suspected suicide attack near the valley’s main town of Mingora on Thursday.
Provincial officials said the militants killed seven civilians outside nearby Matta town, and beheaded three soldiers and three policemen they had taken hostage.
“(The civilians) were travelling in a van. The militants took them out of the van and slaughtered them,” Badshah Gul Wazir, a top provincial home ministry official, told Reuters.
The corpses of the slain police and soldiers were found in the same area.
“All six of them have been found beheaded,” he added.
He said two civilians were killed in the crossfire.
Residents said there had been sporadic exchange of fire between the security forces and militants in Swat today but there were no reports of casualties.
Swat, a scenic valley close to Pakistan‘s lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, has seen a surge in militant activity since Maulana Fazlullah, a pro-Taliban cleric, reportedly launched an illegal FM radio station and urged people to join a jihad or Muslim holy war.
Fazlullah is de facto head of a pro-Taliban group, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) or Movement for the Implementation of Mohammad’s Sharia Law, which was banned by US ally President Pervez Musharraf in January 2002.
Muslim Khan, an aide to Fazlullah, denounced the executions.
“Someone may have done it out of emotion but we condemn it,” he told a group of reporters.
Militants have attacked security forces and carried out bomb attacks in recent months in Swat where they have been forcing residents to follow a strict Islamic code.
Pakistani tribal areas have been a hotbed of support for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who have fled Afghanistan.
Thousands of soldiers and militants have died in battles in these regions since 2003.
Violence has escalated across Pakistan since July, when militants scrapped a peace deal and the army stormed a radical mosque in the capital, Islamabad.
Last week, at least 139 people were killed in a suicide attack in the city of Karachi during a procession led by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on her return from eight years of self-imposed exile.