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Troops kill 35 militants in NW Pakistan

Suicide bombing claims 7 others

AFP, Peshawar
Pakistani troops killed up to 35 Taliban militants Saturday In a major army offensive In the restive northwest, while at least 12 people were killed in separate attacks, officials said.
The violence came as Pakistan's political future remained up in the air, with an election set for September 6 to choose a successor to Pervez Musharraf, who resigned as president Monday amid a prolonged struggle with the militants.
Troops backed by helicopter gunships and heavy artillery pounded militant hideouts in the scenic Swat valley, a former tourist hotspot that erupted in violence last year when a proTaliban cleric declared jihad on Islamabad.
"Up to 35 militants have been killed and scores were injured
when security forces launched a massive operation against militants in the Kabal district of Swat valley," local military spokesman Major Nasir Ali told AFP
"IWo soldiers embraced martyrdom and three others were injured," All said.
Several militant hideouts including their command and control centre in Kabal were destroyed during the offensive in North West Frontier Province, he said.
The military said it had launched a "search and cordon" operation against militants In Akhund Qille and Kabal districts.
Last year, the pro Taliban cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, launched a violent campaign to enforce harsh Islamic Sharia law in the region. Since then, the valley has been rocked by fierce clashes, which flared up several weeks ago.
Earlier Saturday, seven people including three policemen were killed and 23 others wounded in a suicide bombing and other attacks on police stations in the valley, officials said.
The suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden jeep into a police station in Chaharbagh district, killing three policemen and a civilian, police said. Fourteen others were wounded.
Another bomb attack at an abandoned police station in Bari Kot district killed two people, including art eight-year-old girl. In Kabal district, a young girl was killed when militants fired mortars at her home, police said.
Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claimed responsibility for the attacks.
"We carried out the suicide attack and other bombings and will continue with more attacks if the
government does not halt the military operation against us," Khan told AFP
A curfew has been imposed in the violence-hit district, officials said.
Elsewhere, In lawless Bajaur tribal district near the border with Afghanistan, five civilians were killed and six others were injured when a mortar shell hit a house near the main town Khar, a government official said.
Meanwhile, in the southern port city of Karachi, a senior police official, his security guard and two civilians were wounded when a bomb attached to a bicycle exploded outside his police station, police said.
The official had been investigating the activities of militant networks, which could be the motive for the attack, police officer Iqbal Mehmood said