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40 Taliban killed in latest Pakistan battles

AFP, Peshawar
Troops and helicopter gunships killed about 40 Taliban militants while four people, including a politician, were injured in a roadside bomb in northwest Pakistan, officials said Monday.
More than 24 extremists with links to al-Qaeda were killed on Sunday near the Afghan border in the Bajaur tribal region, where Pakistani security forces launched a major offensive against Islamic militants in August.
'Helicopter gunships and artillery pounded hideouts of militants, killing at least 24 rebels and wounding 10 others," a security official told AFP.
Shelling began in the afternoon and continued into the early hours of Monday, he said, adding four militants and two locals were also killed in an exchange of fire between a tribal lashkar (force) and rebels in Bajaur.
The tribal force was formed last week to act against militants hiding in the area, who local tribesmen say are undermining their power
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The Pakistani military says more titan 1.000 rebel fighters have been killed since it launched its offensive in Bajaur, including al-Qaeda's operational commander in the region, Egyptian Abu Saeed Al-Masri.
On Monday ten Islamic extremists died in a gunbattle with soldiers in the Khawazakhcla district of the Swat valley during an ongoing military operation against fighters loyal to local cleric Maulana Fazlullah.
"Ten militants were killed in an operation by our security forces," a military official told AFP, adding there were no casualties among troops.
Separately four people, including a local leader of the ruling Awami National Party (ANP), were injured when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in the neighbouring tribal district of Dir, an administration official said.
"Sameen Khan and three others were injured when a remote control bomb planted on a roadside exploded." Abdul Rashid Khan told AFP.
Militants have recently targeted several ANP politicians and their relatives, and the party chief Asfandyar Khan Wali narrowly escaped a suicide attack at his home in the town of Charsaddacarlicrthismonth.
The mountainous Swat valley was until last year a popular tourist destination where many Pakistani city dwellers went for their annual holidays and it featured Pakistan's onlyski resort.
But it has been turned into a battleground since Maulana Fazlullah launched a violent campaign to enforce harsh Islamic Sharia law in the region.
Many of Pakistan's tribal regions have been wracked by violence since thousands of Taliban and al-Qaeda rebels fled to the country after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Meanwhile, Pakistani tribesmen arc raising armies to battle al-Qaeda and Taliban militants close to the Afghan border a movement encouraged by the military and hailed as a sign its offensive there is succeeding.
The often ramshackle forces
lend force to the campaign in the lawless and mountainous region, but analysts question their effectiveness against a well-armed, well-trained and increasingly brutal insurgency.
The extremists are increasingly targeting the militias, an indication they believe them to be a threat.
On Sunday, two tribesman were killed during an army-backed offensive against insurgents in the Bajur tribal region. Government official Jamil Khan said helicopter gunships shelled militants' bunkers, killing at least 10 people. Fifteen more suspected militants were killed in separate clashes, he
On Friday, a suicide bomber killed more than 50 tribesman gathering to form an army. Eight pro-government tribesmen have been beheaded in recent days.
By encouraging the private armies, or "lashkars," the government is exploiting local resentment against foreign and Pakistani extremists in the area, considered a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders.