Islamabad: Pakistani security forces have rounded up 46 rebels and seized a large cache of arms during a fresh operation in the northwestern Swat valley against militant followers of pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah.

The operation was launched in the area around Tutan Bande and Manja villages yesterday following reports that Fazlullah and his aides were holed up in the region. Twenty militants were captured in Kabal, Tutan Bande, Manja and Davlai yesterday. A large quantity of arms, including rifles, pistols and shotguns, and ammunition was also recovered from the region, the army said in a statement.

The security forces arrested 26 militants in Tutan Bande, Manja and Tighak Bande today. The troops also found two bags filled with 70 kg of explosives along with a timer device in Aligarama. The explosives were later destroyed, the statement said. Authorities have imposed a night curfew across Swat to facilitate the safe movement of troops.

Fazlullah has been on the run since the army and paramilitary forces launched a major operation against his Shaheen Commando Force in November last year. Fazlullah and his men had been running a parallel government in nearly 60 villages in Swat. Close to 300 people, a majority of them militants, have been killed during the operations in Swat.

Source : PTI