Pakistan extends curfew as army battles Taliban

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani authorities on Tuesday extended a curfew in the troubled northwestern Swat valley to the area's main city Mingora, as troops fought militants on its outskirts, officials said.
Pakistan's military is battling extremists loyal to radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah waging a violent campaign to introduce Islamic Sharia law in a valley that once attracted Western holidaymakers to its snow-capped peaks.
"A curfew has been imposed in the main town of Mingora until further notice," military spokesman Major Nasir Khan told AFP.
"People are requested to remain in their houses. We will take extra measures and security forces will patrol the city. Any movement is prohibited during the curfew," said Khan, which he said came into effect at 9:00 pm (1600 GMT).
A security official said that army forces and militants fought a pitched gunbattle in the Kambar area, on the outskirts of Mingora, early Tuesday.
No details of casualties were immediately available.
An indefinite curfew was first imposed on Sunday, affecting a string of named hamlets that are known troublespots.
The move came after Fazlullah -- in a speech on his personal radio station -- released the names of 40 people, including provincial ministers, MPs and local government officials "wanted" by the Taliban.
One local official said Taliban militants destroyed another two boys' schools in the Kabal area of Swat on Tuesday.
"The buildings of the schools were destroyed," an official from the local education department said on condition of anonymity.
Education ministry official Sher Afzal told AFP last week that Fazlullah followers had blown up 173 schools, 105 of them for girls, since security forces launched an operation to crack down on militants in the region in 2007.
A security official said army forces pounded militant hideouts on Tuesday in Matta, about 15 kilometres (eight miles) northwest of Mingora.
Swat, once a popular destination for Pakistani and foreign holidaymakers, has descended into chaos in recent months, with pitched battles between militants and security forces.