Islamabad: Fourteen people, including eight militants, were killed in violent incidents and gun battles in the troubled Swat valley in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province today.
Security forces gunned down eight militants in the Khawazakhela area of Swat. Two security personnel were also killed in the gun battles, which erupted when troops launched an operation to trace militants who had blown up a health facility in the area.
The casualties in today's fighting took the death toll in skirmishes in the Khwazakhela area since yesterday to 28. Eighteen militants were killed in a gun battle with troops yesterday.
In two separate violent incidents, four persons, including a woman councillor and a policeman, were killed by gunmen.
In one incident, militants shot dead a policeman and his brother. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Armed men broke into the home of the woman councillor and killed her and her husband in an attack for which no group claimed responsibility.
The Taliban have stepped up attacks on political leaders, elected representatives and government officials in Swat following the collapse of a peace deal signed with the NWFP government.
Asfandyar Wali Khan, the chief of the Awami National Party that rules the province, recently escaped a bid on his life by a suicide bomber.
