A suicide bomber killed three people, including a policeman, in an attack on a police checkpost in the volatile Swat valley in north-west Pakistan on Sunday, the military said.
The attack came a day after the military said it had cleared the Swat valley, a former top tourist destination, of most militants led by a firebrand pro-Taliban cleric, whose insurgent followers had clashed with troops in the area for weeks.
”Three people were killed and one was wounded,” a military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. ”It was a suicide bomber.”
In a separate incident, troops found three decapitated bodies near Mingora, the main town in Swat.
Last month, the army launched an offensive which the commander in charge said on Saturday had succeeded in clearing the militants from most of the valley, pushing cleric Maulana Fazlullah and his followers into remote valleys to the north-west.
Major General Nasser Janjua told reporters in Mingora on Saturday his troops had killed 290 militants, who he said were supported by the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
A further 143 were captured in the offensive involving 20 000 troops, he added, saying six of his men had been killed.
Janjua said Fazlullah had been able to whip up a following of about 5 000 people with his calls for strict Islamic law broadcast over his private FM radio station.
But most of Fazlullah’s recruits from the valley had melted back into the population since the offensive began, leaving him with a hard core of about 500 followers, including many foreigners, Janjua said.
He said some Uzbeks were with Fazlullah but declined to say where others were from. – Reuters