North West Frontier Province Timeline- 2007

Month/Date

Incidents

January 14

Two girls and a woman belonging to the same family died when they stepped on an explosive device in the Matta area of Swat district in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Eye-witnesses said that the victims - Nimro, 16, her sister Jan Bibi, 5, and Fahmeeda, wife of Gul Hameed – were cutting grass in the fields when the explosive device went off, killing them on the spot.

A bomb exploded at an Afghan refugee camp in the Nowshera district of NWFP, killing four people and injuring five others. Eyewitnesses and officials said that the explosion at around 11 p.m. blew up the house of a prayer leader, Maulvi Masoodullah, killing his brother Ismail and three guests. However, officials put the death toll at two. Masoodullah was reportedly arrested later.

January 25

One person is killed and six others sustained injuries in a car bomb attack at Hangu in the NWFP. However, AFP reported that two men are killed in the attack and as many are injured. "At the moment, it appears to be a suicide attack," Station House Officer of Hangu Police Saeed Khan told reporters. Saeed said the dead man is identified as Hayat, an Afghan refugee who is living in the Katakarni camp in Hangu. Deputy Inspector General of Kohat Police Salahuddin told reporters that police had arrested three men in connection with the attack– one in Kohat and the others in Peshawar.

Suspected militants ambushed a police vehicle and killed one police personnel and injured another in the Tank town of NWFP, adjoining South Waziristan.

Suspected militants ambushed a police vehicle and killed one police personnel and injured another in the Tank town of NWFP, adjoining South Waziristan.

January 27

15 people, including six police officials, were killed and 60 others injured in a suicide attack targeting a Muharram procession near Qasim Ali Khan Mosque in the Dilgaran area of Qissa Khawani Bazaar in Peshawar, capital of NWFP. Peshawar police commissioner Mallik Muhammad Saad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, three other police personnel and a Nazim (local official) were among those killed in the blast. Superintendent of Peshawar Police, Zaibullah, said that an unidentified bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body when police stopped him from entering the procession, which was to be taken out from Qasim Ali Khan Mosque. A senior security official said the two severed legs of the suspected bomber had been recovered from the site. The blast also caused a power outage that left the city centre in darkness, complicating rescue efforts.

January 30

Two people died in a town in NWFP, where a pre-dawn rocket attack on a Shiite Muslim procession sparked a burst of sectarian violence. Army personnel were sent into Hangu, 100 kilometres south of Peshawar, capital of NWFP, to restore order after the rocket landed near police protecting the procession to mark the holy festival of Muharram. The two fatalities were from the Sunni community, said Mayor Ghani ur-Rahman. However, it was not immediately clear if the men are killed by the rocket or during the brief clashes between Sunnis and Shiites that followed. Nineteen people were reported injured.

A curfew is imposed in Hangu after a mortar is fired at a Shia procession and shooting broke out. The two people killed are reportedly Afghan refugees who were not taking part in the procession

January 31

Two people are killed in a shooting incident at an unauthorised procession of Muharram in the under-curfew town of Hangu, adding to two deaths in a mortar attack on a Shia procession the day before.

A police personnel who was injured in a suicide blast in Peshawar succumbed to his injuries, bringing the total number of police personnel killed in the incident to seven.

February 10

A blast at the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Peshawar at around 4:30am damaged four vehicles and some property, but nobody was injured as the office was closed. The US advised American citizens to avoid crowded markets and public demonstrations in Peshawar, following the blast at the ICRC. "Americans are advised against visiting Peshawar’s Old City and Sadar Bazaar, and restrict movement throughout the city, staying mainly in the University Town area," read a notice issued by the US Embassy in Islamabad.

February 11

A non-governmental organisation’s office in the main bazaar of Darra Adam Khel in NWFP is badly damaged in a bomb blast. Muhammad Faisal Afridi, chief executive of the NGO working against the spread of drugs and to rehabilitate drug addicts, said the blast occurred around 11:15pm. Over the last week, the offices of two international NGOs – Save the Children in Battagram and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Peshawar – have been attacked in NWFP.

February 14

In a suspected sectarian incident, two unidentified gunmen killed Shia leader Jawad Hussain in the Dera Ismail Khan city of NWFP. Hussain was a local leader of the Shia group Tehrik Nifaz Fiqa-i-Jafria (TNFJ). Maqbool Hussain, brother of the deceased, registered an FIR at the City Police Station, stating that he had been receiving threats for a couple of days.

February 15

The Government has decided to repatriate all Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan by 2009. This was announced at a meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Cabinet Committee held in Islamabad on February 15. The committee – headed by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao –devised a strategy to send all Afghan refugees back to their homeland in three years, from 2007 to 2009. Under the strategy, four camps of Afghan refugees located in Balochistan and the NWFP will be removed in the ongoing year. In the first phase, two of them -- one in each province -- will be dismantled in March. According to official figures, approximately 2.4 million Afghans are living in Pakistan – one million in camps and 1.4 million in the urban areas. Since 2002, about 2.8 million Afghan refugees have reportedly been repatriated to their homeland.

February 16

A bomb blast occurred at the main market of Tank district. However, no loss of life or injuries is reported. According to police sources, unknown assailants had planted the homemade bomb near the house of Akhter Nawaz, a resident of the area. The blast slightly damaged Nawaz’s house, but there are no casualties.

February 20

A tribal elder is shot dead in the Tank district. Police said armed men intruded into the house of Malik Karim Khan in the Totkai locality of Tank and shot him dead.

Armed men reportedly snatched an official vehicle from an employee of the Tribal Electric Supply Company near Tank.

February 23

At least five private English medium schools providing co-education remained closed in Peshawar, capital of NWFP after security agencies advised their management to make security arrangements for themselves. The institutions are reportedly in the grip of rumours that suicide bombers may target private schools that provide co-education.

February 27

A militant is killed and his accomplice wounded during a clash with police at Tank after a gang took away the city’s fire engine from Wazirabad locality. Witnesses said three police personnel are injured when the militants hurled a hand grenade on them.

A police station is partially damaged in a rocket attack at Bannu. However, no casualties are reported. "The Mandan police station is attacked the night between Sunday and Monday," said police officials.

March 1

A madrassa (seminary) teacher, identified as Akhtar Usmani, is killed by suspected Taliban militants for allegedly spying for the United States and his beheaded body is found in Jandola - a town in Tank, near the border of South Waziristan. Tribal officials aid that the slain teacher had also made recordings of anti-Taliban speeches. Urdu word 'munafiq' (hypocrite) is scrawled across his forehead.

March 9

Two gunmen on a motorcycle killed a Shia businessman, Anwar Ali Shah, at Dera Ismail Khan.

March 10

Unidentified assailants shot dead a retired Shia soldier in Dera Ismail Khan and a government employee from the community in the same region. Local police officer Aslam Khattak said, "The murders appear to be sectarian terrorism".

March 13

Gunmen shot dead two persons, a Shia and a Sunni, in the Dera Ismail Khan Town, raising the toll from sectarian violence in the town in the last week to seven.

March 12

Suspected Sunni militants shot dead a Shia man, identified as Syed Arshad Abbas, in Dera Ismail Khan city of the NWFP.

March 13

Gunmen on a motorcycle killed Maulana Farooq Ahmed, a Sunni cleric, in the same city, said local police officials. Ahmed was a member of the outlawed SSP.

Gunmen injured Hafiz Ishaq, another SSP activist.

March 16

The NWFP Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzai said that continued hostilities between two religious groups in Bara had threatened peace and were hampering development projects in the Khyber Agency. According to an official statement, Orakzai was talking to a jirga of Afridi tribe elders, who called on him at the Governor’s House to apprise him of progress made, so far, in resolving the dispute between the two religious factions in the Bara subdivision. He said numerous innocent people had lost their lives in the ongoing conflict, warning that the political administration could not allow such a tense situation to persist any longer, as it was bringing a bad name to the Afridi tribe and the political administration.

March 18

Unidentified men gunned down a watchman and blew up four video CD shops in Bukshali Bazaar in Mardan in the NWFP.

Two people were injured in an explosion in Bhana Marhi Police precincts in NWFP.

March 19

Militants shot dead a traffic policeman at a bazaar in Tank. The shooting appeared to be linked to a string of attacks on Policemen by suspected pro-Taliban militants in the region since January.

March 22

After Dir and Bajaur, barbers in Mardan in the NWFP have also received letters from a purported jihadi outfit to stop shaving beards.

March 23

Unidentified insurgents blew up an electricity tower in Mohmand Agency in the NWFP. Unidentified miscreants had sabotaged some towers in November 2006. The MRM has been blamed for previous sabotages of electricity towers and Government officials have accused the organisation for this recent subversive activity. However, the MRM has denied involvement in this incident, saying that the administration was making false allegations against the organisation to foil its March 26 strike. The MRM demanded that 25 villages, which were part of the agency and later included in the settles areas, be re-included in the agency.

Suspected militants have now started sending threatening letters to owners of internet cafés and video centres and principals of Government and private schools in Charsadda, following similar incidents in other areas. The letters warn, "Do away with un-Islamic practices, otherwise you will have to face dire consequences." It was written in the notes that all video centres and Internet cafes must be closed between March 23 and April 23. According to the letters, female students should start wearing veils or "face dire consequences".

March 24

The NWFP can only be renamed through a referendum, Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Salim Saifullah Khan said in a statement.

March 26

A police officer and two attackers were killed, while 13 others, including three paramilitary soldiers and a constable, were wounded when suspected militants attacked a police station, an armoured personnel carrier and FC fort with hand grenades in Tank city of NWFP, Police and residents said.

Suspected militants hurled a hand grenade on an armoured personnel carrier in Darwaza Bazaar, wounding three FC personnel — Mohammad Sharif, Lance Naik Wali Mohammad and Sepoy Abdul Haleem — and six civilians — Mohabat Khan, Saifur Rehman, Imran, Baz Khan, Maqsud Ali and Hikmat Shah.

Four people, including president of the NWFP Olympic Association and former Senator Syed Aqil Shah, were injured when a bomb went off outside a bank on the Saddar Road.

Militants on a pick-up coming from the Wana side attacked the FC fort with a hand grenade. FC personnel opened fire on the vehicle, which sped away, leaving one wounded attacker, Mohammad Alam Mahsud. A short while later, the militants in the same truck hurled a hand grenade at the Saddar police station, wounding two passers-by, Akbar Hussain and Aziz Barki.

Sources said that a few days ago militants had picked up a group of more than 20 students from a government high school and some private schools and shifted them to an unknown location for training.

March 27

Insurgents detonated dynamite in an open field near the ICRC’s office, which was bombed on February 10, in the Pishtakhara area of Peshawar failing to cause any casualties.

Troops retaliated as militants fired eight rockets at a paramilitary fort in Tank.

Taliban militants abducted the principal of a school, Farid Mehsud. He had called for police protection after the Taliban visited his school in a bid to recruit youth for jihad.

An all-tribes Jirga (tribal council) of Tank district has decided to meet pro-Taliban militant leader Baitullah Mehsud to seek his help in bringing normalcy to the district, bordering South Waziristan. Senator Saleh Shah of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal said that representatives of all tribes in the district would meet Mehsud on March 28 with a "peace message".

March 28

At least 25 Taliban militants and a paramilitary soldier were killed in a gun battle that continued for six-hours in the Tank town. Tank District Police Officer Mumtaz Zarin said that security forces killed at least 25 militants when more than 200 Taliban cadres attacked the city from all sides. A police source said that two police stations, a paramilitary fort and bank branches were damaged in the Taliban attack.

March 29

Taliban militants seeking to impose Islamic law blew up two video shops and torched a cable television operator’s office in Kohat.

March 30

Taliban militants freed the principal of a high school who was abducted four days ago for stopping the rebels recruiting his students, said his family. Farid Mehsud, the principal of the Oxford Public School in Tank, and his brother Humayun were abducted by about a dozen gunmen from his house on March 27.

Security agencies will launch a house-to-house search operation within the next 24 hours to collect illegal weapons in Tank, said a spokesman. Deputy Inspector General of Police, Zulfiqar Ahmed Cheema, said security forces (SFs) would launch an operation if residents did not hand over illegal weapons voluntarily.

April 5

A bomb exploded near the City District Women Degree College in the Hashnagri region on the Grand Trunk Road in Peshawar. Police said that the blast occurred at 7:15 pm but nobody was hurt, adding that the explosive weighing 1.5 kg had been planted in an empty plot. However, AFP reported that two passers-by were wounded.

April 6

An explosion at the Peshawar bus terminal in the Gulbahar area damaged a Quetta-bound vehicle.

Unidentified assailants exploded two bombs at the site of a mela (fair) scheduled for April 7 (today) in Dera Ismail Khan. The blast damaged the site of the mela. "The assailants also left pamphlets calling the mela an un-Islamic activity, and warned the people to stay way or face such blasts," said Police.

A blast in the Bahzadi Chakkarkot area of Kohat on damaged a music shop. Police said two men planted a bomb at a music centre in Bangesh Plaza and they had been arrested.

April 8

Four paramilitary soldiers were injured in two separate bomb attacks at Tank and Bannu in the NWFP. Local police official Abdullah informed that the bomb attacks had been remote-controlled and that the soldiers had been targeted from the nearby mountains. Sources added that unidentified men also snatched a government vehicle with record of development schemes from local government assistant director Akhtar Munir near the Chakmalai area in Tank.

April 9

A barber’s shop at Darra Adam Khel was blown up after Taliban militants had warned barbers not to shave men’s beards because it was "un-Islamic". However, no loss of life or injuries was reported in the blast which occurred at the shop in Akhorwal Market. Pro-Taliban militants have reportedly been distributing pamphlets in towns of the NWFP and the tribal areas, warning barbers against shaving beards.

April 10

Two children sustained injuries in a rocket attack on a residential area in the Bannu city. Officials said that two rockets were fired from an unknown location which hit the house of one Mohammad Ashfaq in the Kastuddin Street. The explosion partially damaged the house and wounded two children. District Police Officer Mazharul Haq while confirming the rocket attack also disclosed that police had seized seven rocket launchers, four bombs and ammunition from a truck on the same day.

April 16

Three children were killed and four other people, including two women, were wounded when a hand grenade exploded inside a house in the Badhbare village in the outskirts of Peshawar.

An official of the Khasadaar Force (a local security force), Iran Gul, was shot dead and two others wounded by two suspected militants on the Kohat-Peshawar road. Militants had reportedly issued warnings to Iran Gul and others 10 days ago to stop taking action against them and not to monitor their activities. Militants had given them April 10 as deadline and warned them of dreadful consequences if they did not stop action against militants.

April 17

NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani said no seminary in the province and the tribal areas was involved in terrorism, adding that some "secret forces" were creating law and order problems to bring a bad name to the provincial government.

April 20

A rocket was fired at the residential compound of JUI leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman at Dera Ismail Khan. The rocket created a hole in the outer wall of the compound but did not cause much damage.

The Taliban have threatened to launch an attack on Bannu city in the NWFP if the local police do not release seven of their associates. According to posters displayed by Taliban throughout the city, Bannu police have been warned to either release their activists, or prepare for severe consequences. Bannu police reportedly arrested seven Taliban activists, including ‘commander’ Fazal Karim, a week ago for forcefully preventing people from beating drums during a marriage ceremony.

April 21

Three video and music shops were blown up in a bomb blast at the Gulzada Market in Swabi, about 100 kilometres northeast of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. Islamist extremists who claim music and movies are un-Islamic have described the shopping complex as the "Hell market" and some shopkeepers have received warning letters in the past.

April 23

In the Upper Dir district, a salon and a music shop were blown up in the Wari Bazaar. Traders and shopkeepers in Wari reportedly took out a procession in protest against the worsening law and order situation in the area and declared the blasts a terrorist activity. Barbers and music shop owners in Upper and Lower Dir had received threatening letters in March 2007.

April 24

Two barber shops were blown up and four adjacent shops damaged when two bombs exploded at Ahmad market in Kumbar, the native village of Maulana Sufi Mohammad, leader of the banned Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, in the Maidan area of NWFP.

April 25

Unidentified militants shot dead three people in a targeted sectarian attack in the Dera Ismail Khan district. The assailants fired from a Kalashnikov rifle on a vehicle in which two brothers from a prominent Shia family, Najaf Ali Shah and Syed Ali Shah, and their Sunni employee were travelling. An unnamed official of the NWFP government is reported to have blamed the attack on the banned Sunni group SSP and urged Shias to remain peaceful.

April 26

Following the killing of two more persons in sectarian violence, the administration imposed a curfew in the Dera Ismail Khan district. Police said two motorcycle borne unidentified gunmen opened fire on two people sitting outside a shop, killing them on the spot in the cantonment area.

April 28

31 people, including five police personnel, were killed and Federal Interior Minister Sherpao and his young son Sikandar Sherpao Khan were among several people wounded in a suicide attack, moments after the minister finished a speech at a public rally in his hometown Charsadda in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The head of the suicide bomber, who had a brown beard and was aged between 30 and 35 years, was found at the site of the blast near Station Koroona in Charsadda, and "he looks like an Afghan," NWFP Inspector General of Police Sharif Virk told reporters.

A bomb exploded at the Peshawar International Airport canteen causing minor damage to the building.

April 29

Investigators said Russian-made explosive material had been used in the attack on a public meeting addressed by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao. Charsadda district police officer Feroz Shah said that high-intensity MVU type explosive had been used in the bomb. Assistant Inspector General of Police Fiaz Ahmad Khan Toru said preliminary findings had revealed that the suspect bomber appeared to be from a hilly area, but it could not be said with certainty if he was an Afghan or Uzbek.

Two employees of the Barani Area Development Project of the NWFP government were wounded during a bomb blast at their office in Kohistan. Local clerics had reportedly delivered sermons during Friday prayers urging "the faithful" to attack offices of NGOs who inducted women staff for their project activities in the remote district. The clerics asked the people to restrict the entry of female staff of NGOs into their houses, saying these women were urging local women to go for family planning against their husbands’ will, which was a sin. Sources added that two partner NGOs of the BADP had inducted four female employees for their health and education projects but the local clerics objected to this and asked them to expel the women.

May 4

Suspected militants targeted music shops with explosive devices, damaging around 20 outlets in two different places in NWFP. No group has claimed responsibility for the two blasts but letters from suspected Taliban have warned local shopkeepers against continuing their businesses.

May 5

Two unidentified gunmen killed a Shia man, identified as Imdad Hussain, at Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP, days after a weeklong curfew was lifted.

May 9

Video and music shopkeepers in Mardan district have reportedly sought protection from the government after two bombs exploded in the video market in the Parhuti area of Mardan at 1am, destroying 15 shops. The shopkeepers had been warned in an anonymous letter 20 days ago to wind up their businesses.

In Charsadda, unidentified men blew up two music shops at Mir Abad in the Umerzai police precincts. The unidentified men hurled explosives at two CD shops owned by Kashif and Amjad Ali of Qando Kali at around 00:45am.

Unidentified people blew up a hair-cutting saloon at Lal Qila in the Maidan area of Lower Dir district. Barbers in both the Lower and Upper Dir districts had been reportedly receiving pamphlets from unknown miscreants asking them to stop shaving off beard or else face destruction of their shops.

Two motorcyclists abandoned their vehicle near a police picket in Tangi and escaped. The police later found a locally-manufactured bomb when they searched the motorcycle.

May 13

Police resorted to baton-charge and fired teargas shells to disperse protesting activists of the proscribed TNSM in the Kabal area of Mingora in the NWFP. At least 25 of the group’s activists were arrested and an unspecified number of police personnel and other people were injured in the clashes. The activists had reportedly gathered at the Kabal ground to demand release of their associates arrested during the last couple of days.

May 14

A 24-hour curfew was clamped in the Tank town of NWFP after a paramilitary soldier and a civilian were killed and 10 people sustained injuries in a series of grenade and rocket attacks on SF personnel and exchange of fire between militants and SFs.

A shutter-down strike was observed across the NWFP, particularly in the Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Swat districts, while there was partial support for the strike in Swabi district during a strike called by opposition parties and lawyers’ bodies in protest against the violence in Karachi.

May 15

25 people were killed and at least 35 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up on the ground floor of the Marhaba Hotel in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. Most of those killed were Afghans, including the restaurant’s owner Sadruddin and his two sons, two women and a five year-old child. Witnesses and police said that restaurant owner Sadruddin was an Uzbek of Afghan origin and he was a supporter of former Uzbek warlord Abdur Rashid Dostum. The NWFP Law Minister Malik Zafar Azam told reporters that it was a suicide attack. Azam said it would be premature to say who was behind the suicide attack, "but it may be a reaction to Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah’s killing two days ago in Afghanistan."

Militants attacked a police post in the Tank city where authorities imposed a curfew after clashes between militants and security forces on May 14.

May 16

Six people were killed and 15 others, including four police personnel, were injured in clashes between SF personnel and Islamic militants in the Tank city. According to witnesses, a rocket fired by the militants landed in the Rizwan Grain market of the city on Tank-Dera road, killing five civilians, including two brothers. Clashes in different parts of the city occurred for more than two hours and both sides used rockets and light cannons, causing collateral damage to bazaars and residential areas, residents said.

May 17

Police at Bannu arrested three men suspected of being members of the Taliban and recovered some explosives from their possession at the GTS Chowk.

May 18

Christians at Charsadda have been warned by some unidentified elements through chalking on a wall of the Church to convert to Islam or leave the area, otherwise get ready for serious consequences.

May 19

Police in the Bannu district seized three jackets intended for use in suicide attacks from a Lahore-bound bus. Police checked the bus on a tip off, and found the jackets packed in luggage belonging to Islamic preachers. Each jacket contains six rocket shells filled with plastic explosives.

May 21

Four shops were damaged when a bomb exploded in a market near the house of federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, in the Sherpao area of Charsadda district. Police arrested a suspect, Mohammed Saeed, a student of a local seminary, near the blast site.

Ten oil tankers waiting to cross the Pakistan-Afghanistan to take supplies for US-led coalition troops in Afghanistan were burnt in a fire sparked by two rockets fired at a parking lot near the border town of Torkham. The owners, the drivers and the area residents managed to save the remaining 10 oil tankers. Each oil tanker reportedly contained 40,000 litres of oil. The authorities later defused three more rockets from a nearby mound. According to Shakir Afridi, president of the Truckers’ Association, said that 22 oil tankers and containers had been destroyed and damaged during the last one-and-a-half months in different parts of the NWFP but no steps had been taken by the government to provide security to the transporters. He informed that oil tankers have been attacked and damaged in Peshawar, Kohat and Khyber Agency.

May 21

Suspected militants blew up a music shop in a grenade attack in Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao’s village. A dental clinic and a computer business were also damaged in the blast. Two militants on a bicycle lobbed a hand grenade into the Wahab Music Centre at Sherpao village and later fled. However, one of them was subsequently arrested.

May 22

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal led NWFP government struck a nine-point peace agreement with an Islamist cleric who has led a campaign through an unlicensed radio station against polio vaccinations and education for girls in the Swat district. In exchange for allowing the FM radio station to continue broadcasts, Maulana Fazlullah of the outlawed TNSM agreed to now support the polio vaccination campaign and education for girls, as well as government efforts to establish law and order. He also agreed to wrap up all training facilities for militants and making of weapons, and support the district administration in any operation against anti-state elements.

May 23

Suspected militants abducted three government officials, including a Military Intelligence (MI) agent, from Bannu, the hometown of NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani. MI agent Hasan Zeb, Christian Hospital contractor Younas Masih and driver Akhtar Niaz were abducted on the Bannu-Kohat highway near Dumal at 6:00am.

May 24

Unidentified men fired seven rockets at a paramilitary fort in Tank city in an overnight attack. No casualties were reported.

Three rockets were fired at a police station in Bannu, damaging a wall of the station. No loss of life or injuries was reported.

Police in Peshawar recovered some arms and ammunition from a passenger bus on the Kohat Road and arrested an alleged smuggler. Chief Capital City Police, Abdul Majeed Marwat, said they received information that arms and ammunition would be smuggled through a bus from Peshawar to Karachi, capital of Sindh province. A Kalashnikov, two repeaters, two pistols and about 1600 rounds were seized from the bus and its driver, identified as Nadeem, arrested.

May 25

In a telephonic address on the occasion of the inauguration of the basement of a mosque at Kohat, the Islamabad-based Lal Masjid (Red mosque) cleric Maulana Aziz asked the Taliban to continue their jihad against obscenity, prostitution, video shops and other social vices and expand it to the entire NWFP. According to him, "it is now the responsibility of all believers to support the activities of the Taliban in the province against CD shops and obscenity."

May 26

A roadside bomb exploded near a military convoy in the Tank town, killing at least two soldiers and injuring seven others. Mohammed Idris, an area police chief, said the troops were going to the adjacent South Waziristan when the blast occurred. Spokesperson for the Pakistan army, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, confirmed the attack and casualties.

Militants have warned music and video shops, as well as clandestine hashish and alcohol outlets, at Dara Adamkhel to close their business. "The Taliban have set July 1 as a deadline to abandon all ‘un-Islamic’ business in the area," local resident Murtaza Khan said. The threat came in pamphlets distributed in the town. The pamphlets also warned shopkeepers to stop downloading songs as mobile telephone ring tones. "All the music shops in this area are closing now," shopkeeper Jan Alam said.

May 28

Four local Taliban militants were killed in a clash with police in the Bannu district. Two police personnel and civilian were injured in the encounter, officials said. The four militants belonging to the Hayat group who had been patronising local Taliban militants in the district have been identified as Bahadur Khan, Abid, Muhammad Rehman and Amir Hayat.

A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden Land Cruiser into a Frontier Corps (FC) vehicle in the same area, killing two FC personnel, identified as Fareed Hussain and Nametullah and injuring another identified as Masood Afsar. Area Force Commander Muqabil Mahsud said that the FC convoy comprising three vehicles was heading from Tank to Boltonabad to secure the area when it was ambushed. He said the explosive-laden Land Cruiser coming from the opposite direction rammed into the paramilitary vehicle, causing a massive blast while another car driven by militants sped away.

Militants shot dead Mir Zarwali Khan, assistant district officer of the FC in the Boltonabad area on the Tank-Jandola road in the Tank city. The officer was going to Peshawar from Tank when the militants ambushed his vehicle and opened fire, killing him on the spot. The driver of the vehicle also suffered injuries. Later, the militants set the vehicle on fire.

May 30

Militants attacked the house of a senior government official in the Jatai Qala area of Tank district after midnight and shot dead 13 people, including two women. Two children were injured, police said. Chief of the Gomal police station, Sanaullah Marwat, informed that militants attacked the house of Amiruddin Khan, Khyber tribal region’s political agent, with rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and assault rifles. He said that the militants had come from the adjoining South Waziristan. The dead reportedly included six members of the family and seven guests.

The district administrator of Hangu, Ghani-ur-Rehman, escaped unhurt after a bomb explosion damaged his vehicle. Rehman was on his way home from his office in the afternoon when the attack occurred on Thall Road, police said.

May 31

"Independent cells" on the pattern of al Qaeda inspired by the Taliban are actively spreading Talibanisation across the NWFP and Tank district is the "litmus test" for these cells to prove how serious a threat they pose to the state, officials said.

There is reportedly a province-wide offensive on girls’ schools, video stores and barber shops in the NWFP by the Islamist radicals, their supporters and sympathisers. These three, viewed as "symbols of Western-oriented life", are being destroyed by religious extremists in a growing wave of violence. Four girls’ schools have been bombed and violent threats have been circulated that girls should stay home. While no girls or school staff have been killed, girls in some areas have stopped attending classes, the report points out.

June 1

A civilian, identified as Mohammed Rashid, manager of the Agriculture Bank of Pakistan, was injured in a bomb blast at Bannu. Mohammed Rafiq, a local police official, informed that the homemade-bomb had probably been planted inside the civilian’s vehicle.

Unidentified men fired at least four rockets targeting the Mandan police station in Bannu. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

June 3

Two bomb blasts destroyed two CD shops in different parts of the Kohat city, but no loss of life was reported. The first blast occurred at 11.30 PM in Bazaar-i-Mustafa, blowing up a shop owned by Shahid, though he had already declared that he would soon switch over to some other business. Another CD shop situated near a mosque was destroyed when a bomb planted in a ghee can exploded outside the shop.

June 4

Militants have banned the movement of tribesmen at Darra Adamkhel after 10pm and announced that any vehicle not stopping for ‘checking’ would be fired at. The Taliban told local people to remove ring tones of film songs from their cellular phones and personal computers and replace them with Quranic verses and jihadi songs. The handbills said that Taliban would launch an armed campaign from July 1 against ‘indecency’ and those involved in ‘un-Islamic activities’, including music centres, prize bond dealers, usurers, narcotics dealers, car lifters and barbers who trim beards. A poster pasted on a wall said Taliban would provide alternative self-employment opportunities to those affected by the campaign.

June 4

A senior Government official, Syed Mehdi Hussain, was shot dead in Peshawar. Police suspect it to be a sectarian attack.

June 5

A bomb was lobbed into a private school in the Hayatabad locality of Peshawar. However no loss of life or property was reported.

June 7

Police at Dera Ismail Khan arrested Rauf Baloch, a leader of the banned Sunni outfit SSP, who was wanted in various cases of sectarian terrorism and murder.

June 11

The Karachi Police has arrested three terrorists and identified the suicide bomber who was allegedly responsible for the Nishtar Park incident in Karachi on April 11, 2006. Two LeJ cadres were arrested during raids in two different areas of Karachi. Based on their information, the police conducted an operation in Peshawar, in NWFP where it arrested the third alleged terrorist. All three of them, police claimed, had confessed to their involvement in the suicide attack. The suicide bomber has been identified as Siddiq and is said to have hailed from Mansehra in the NWFP.

Approximately 22 music shops have been bombed in recent months at Charsadda, forcing around half of the 100 such shops in the area to close down, The News reported. Similar incidents have been reported from across the province in recent months: barbers are being threatened against shaving beards, girls are being warned against going to schools without wearing veils, etc. In some remote parts of the NWFP, radical clerics are running private FM radio stations to propagate their teachings, the report said.

Unidentified people set ablaze two music shops in the Akhundabad area of Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province, damaging several CDs and television sets. The shops were reportedly owned by Iqbal and Amir Nawaz.

June 15

June 16

June 17

A man hailing from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas was killed in Peshawar allegedly by Taliban as they suspected him of selling narcotics. The deceased, identified as Syed Kamal Mulakhel, was returning home from his under-construction building in Mulakhel when motorcycle-borne attackers opened fire on him. He was reportedly warned by the Taliban about two weeks ago to terminate his narcotics business.

June 21

One person was killed and 21 others sustained injuries in a grenade attack at a religious gathering at Bannu. Police said the attacker lobbed the grenade at a Tablighee gathering opposite the Bannu airport at around 10.55pm. People present at the gathering reportedly captured the attacker, but he was not handed over to police.

June 24

A security guard shot dead a Taliban militant when they tried to abduct the foreign principal of a school at Bannu. Four masked men tried to scale the wall of the private school and the guard opened fire to stop them, local police chief Dar Ali Khattak said. One was killed by the guard and the other three escaped, he said, adding that the guard was also injured. Khattak identified the principal as a New Zealand national, saying he had been living in Bannu since 1995.

June 26

An explosion destroyed the Singeet Nigar CDs Centre and partially damaged dozens of nearby shops in the Shabqadar area of Charsadda district. However, there were no casualties. Police said the locally made bomb weighed two kilograms. Earlier, CD shops in the Shabqadar area received anonymous letters asking their owners to shut down their businesses since it was "un-Islamic."

June 27

Three CD shops were blown up in the Matani locality of Peshawar. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. Owners of the shops, Akhtar Munir, Hamayun and Iftikhar, told the police that they had not received any prior letters or calls for the closure of their businesses. This is the fourth incident of attacks on CD and video shops in the city. Earlier, video and CD shops were attacked on March 18, June 12 and 15.

June 28

Pro-Taliban militants at Landi Kotal blew up 13 oil tankers supplying fuel to international troops in Afghanistan. The explosion targeted tankers parked in the main town of Khyber tribal district, 35 kilometres west of NWFP capital Peshawar.

June 30

Two suspected terrorists were killed while attempting to plant a bomb in a Hazarkhani warehouse, in the jurisdiction of Yakatoot police station in Peshawar. Three time bombs, hand grenades and two kilograms of explosives were recovered from the incident site.

Two people were wounded in a bomb explosion inside a bus at a bus terminal in Peshawar. Witnesses said three buses were destroyed and seven others were partially damaged.

July 4

Four civilians were killed and two police personnel were wounded in a bomb blast that targeted a police vehicle in the Swat district. Police officer Saeed Khan said that it was not clear whether a grenade was thrown at the vehicle or whether a roadside bomb exploded. A number of eyewitnesses claimed that a suicide bomber carried out the attack using an IED near the Kanju Bridge. However, police officials did not confirm the suicide attack but said it cannot be ruled out.

A police personnel, Zahir Shah, was killed and four others sustained injuries during a rocket attack on a police station in the Mata area of Swat district. The blast followed calls on a private Islamist FM radio station in the area for launching a jihad against the government in retaliation for the mosque confrontation in Islamabad.

NWFP police chief Sharif Virk blamed Maulana Fazlullah, who leads a proscribed militant organisation, for both these attacks. Fazlullah, who had recently signed an agreement with the NWFP government, in broadcasts on his FM channel on July 3 and 4, asked his supporters to take up arms against the government to avenge the action taken against Lal Masjid and carry out suicide attacks.

Four police personnel were killed and two others sustained injuries when suspected Taliban militants attacked their vehicle in the Mattani police precincts of Peshawar. The official said that the attackers fired nearly 500 rounds on the police party amidst slogans of ‘Allah-o-Akbar’. He added that the assailants had come from Darra Adam Khel, which borders Matani village.

Another attack was carried on two security force personnel going on a motorbike in the Charbagh village when armed assailants opened fire on them from a van killing Faiz Ali on the spot while his colleague Raza Khan escaped.

A shepherd and dozens of his goats died when a bomb exploded at a graveyard in the Badrashi town of Nowshera district.

July 5

Four missiles were fired on an army base at Landi Kotal. Officials of the Landi Kotal political administration said that one missile landed in a garden in front of the main gate of the Khyber Rifles and another near an abandoned army store, about 100 meters from the main gate. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. This was the first missile attack on an army camp in the area.

July 6

Four Pakistan Army personnel, including a Major and a Lieutenant, were killed in an IED attack on a military convoy in the Dir district. According to the locals, the outlawed TNSM could be "behind the blast." Dir is a stronghold of the Jamaat-e-Islami and the outlawed TNSM.

Four security force personnel were injured when their vehicle was ambushed near Matta police station in the Swat district. Police said the officials were passing through Baryam Chowk area when their vehicle came under fire from a hillock.

A Frontier Corps convoy going to Shandur to provide security to the polo festival escaped a roadside bomb blast in the Darora area of Upper Dir district. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

July 7

Police in the Mansehra district released four central leaders of the outlawed Sunni group SSP, a day after their arrest. Hafiz Alam Tariq, Maulana Amir Mahavia and two other leaders were reportedly arrested from the district’s Ghazikot area along with two triple-M licensed guns. Sources said they were released following interrogation.

July 8

Unidentified gunmen shot dead three Chinese workers and injured another in Peshawar The Chinese reportedly were engaged in the business of turtles and exported hides to China and other countries.

An Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, Sulaiman Khan, was killed and three constables, Naimatullah Khan, Rasul Jan and Sawdad Khan, wounded when a police party was ambushed with grenades at Bannu.

July 9

A police contingent was reportedly attacked on the Karakoram Highway in Kohistan. However, no casualties were reported.

July 9

Unidentified assailants shot dead an activist of the outlawed Sunni group SSP in the jurisdiction of Shah Qabool police station in Peshawar. Police officer Latif said that Hayat Khan was shot dead at around 2 a.m. outside his Nishtarabad house.

A grenade was lobbed at a police post in the Tajazai area in Ghaznikhel. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

July 10

A soldier, Abdul Ghaffar, was killed and two others sustained injuries after unidentified people lobbed a grenade targeting a military checkpoint at Kohat. The army had established temporary checkpoints in many parts of Kohat on July 9 in view of the Lal Masjid standoff in Islamabad. Further, a blast was also reported in a populated area along the canal road.

In the Lower Dir district, 10 policemen were injured in two bomb blasts. Officials said a vehicle carrying a police contingent was struck by an improvised explosive device in the Khal area, injuring five police personnel. Another roadside explosion in the area damaged a police van, wounding five more police personnel.

In the Battagram district, rioters reportedly set ablaze offices of two international relief organizations, the US-based Care International and the French Red Crescent, and blocked the Karakoram Highway. The tribesmen reportedly took positions at hilltops in groups and fired shots on passenger vehicles intermittently, residents said. Eye witnesses said armed men shot at soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary, injuring one of them.

In the capital Peshawar, NWFP police chief Sharif Virk termed the incidents a reaction to the storming of the Lal Masjid-Jamia Hafsa compound. "Except Lower Dir and Battagram, the overall situation in the province is under control," said Virk. Army troops have reportedly been dispatched to the Swat district and army personnel have also started patrolling the Mingora town.

July 12

A suicide bomber killed three police personnel, Sub-Inspector Taj Maluk and constables Riaz and Islam Gul, by detonating the explosives wrapped around his waist in the Swat district. The suicide attack came moments after a military convoy passed through the area, informed police officer Abdur Rashid Khan. Unconfirmed reports said that there were two suicide bombers.

A roadside bomb exploded when a military convoy was passing through the Kabal area of Swat district. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

Unidentified people fired 17 rockets targeting a Frontier Constabulary check post at Bara. However, no casualty was reported.

July 13

Police arrested three suspected militants and seized an explosives-laden vehicle along with arms and ammunition and some jackets meant for suicide bombers from a house in the Akber town area of Dera Ismail Khan. Police also found seven suicide jackets, 10 mortar shells, two anti-tank mines and two missiles. The three were identified as Jamshed, from Tank in the NWFP, and Nisar and Ahsan, both from Mirali in North Waziristan.

President Pervez Musharraf directed all federal and provincial governments to crackdown on religious extremism and militancy in the country, reiterating the government’s determination to free the country from terrorism. Referring to growing extremism in the NWFP, he directed the provincial security agencies to combat militancy by carrying out coordinated efforts in the tribal and settled areas of NWFP. Gen. Musharraf also approved a plan for the immediate deployment of paramilitary forces in the Swat valley of NWFP to crush the growing militancy in the area. He also directed armed forces personnel not to wear their uniforms in public in the NWFP for fear of backlash from the Lal Masjid operation. He said the federal security agencies would execute and monitor all military operations in the NWFP and FATA and the NWFP government would only assist them.

The government moved an army brigade to the Tank district. Tank District Police Officer Mumtaz Zarin said that the army had been called in to improve security and to stop incursions from the tribal areas. He, however, refused to comment on how many soldiers were being deployed there, but said the army deployment was a gradual process. Sources said that 12,000 troops, backed by artillery units, were moved to the Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts from Okara. Security forces were also being deployed in the Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts, considered to be strongholds of militancy. Besides, troops have also reportedly been stationed in the northern Swat and Lower Dir districts.

July 15

At least 47 people were killed and over a hundred injured in suicide bombings targeting security forces in the Swat and Dera Ismail Khan districts of the NWFP in apparent revenge attacks by militants for the Lal Masjid operation. In the first attack, at least 13 SF personnel and six civilians, including three children, were killed and more than 50 people sustained injuries at Matta in the Swat district when two suicide bombers rammed two cars packed with explosives into an army convoy early in the morning. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. At approximately 4:15 pm (PST), a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Dera Ismail Khan Police Lines as candidates took police entrance exams. Police official Safiullah said that 26 people were killed, including 12 police personnel and the suicide bomber, and 61 others were wounded. Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao said the two attacks could be a militant response to the Lal Masjid assault. Many of the locals were terming the incident as act of the banned JeM, which according to them had well-trained and brainwashed people in the district.

July 17

Three police personnel, including the Station House Officer of Och police, were injured when an explosive device planted along the Chakdara-Timergara road went off near Gulabad Bridge in the Lower Dir district.

Police recovered a hand grenade from the same place at Dera Ismail Khan Police Lines where 26 persons were killed and 61 others in a suicide attack on July 15.

Investigators probing into firing on President Pervez Musharraf’s aircraft on July 6 have arrested three more persons for their alleged involvement in the incident. The three suspects have been picked up from Bannu and shifted to an undisclosed location for investigation. The arrests were made after gleaning the phone record of the suspects.

July 18

A Military Operations Directorate meeting, chaired by President General Pervez Musharraf, at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi has directed the NWFP district governments to form peace committees at district, tehsil and police station levels by July 31.

The NWFP government will hold a meeting with a 45-member jirga (council) that negotiated the peace deal with the militants in 2006. "We have been invited for a meeting with NWFP Governor Ali Jan Orakzai on Thursday (today). We don’t know the agenda, but the meeting will obviously focus on the peace deal," said Malik Waris Khan from Khyber Agency, who is among 45 other elders from six tribal regions to attend the meeting.

Police defused a toy bomb planted under a vehicle near a family planning office in the Machni police station area in Peshawar.

July 19

15 persons, including a prayer leader and two children, were killed and several people injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up during night prayers at a mosque at Pathan Lines Centre in the Kohat Cantonment area. Most of the victims were reportedly army officials. The federal Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said, "Indirectly these attacks are a backlash reaction against the Red Mosque."

Five civilians and two police personnel were killed and 35 others injured when a suicide bomber set off his explosives-packed car at the Hangu Police Training College (PTC). Police official Rehman Gul Khan said the suicide bomber wanted to take his car inside the PTC on the main Hangu-Kohat Road where 500-600 police cadets were doing their routine morning parade. The suicide bomber blew up the vehicle when police personnel deployed at the PTC gate tried to stop him. Hangu District Police Officer Ghulam Mohammad said that around 40-50 kg of explosives was packed in the car.

The federal government has decided to provide PKR 3.6 billion to the NWFP government to recruit more personnel to the law enforcement agencies in the province. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that the NWFP government had asked for an additional 15,000 police personnel where the federal government agreed to provide half of the grant.

July 20

A meeting presided over by President Pervez Musharraf approved ‘an all-encompassing strategy’ to combat terrorism, extremism and growing militancy in the country, particularly in the NWFP and tribal areas. Sources said the meeting decided to provide ‘necessary financial and security support’ to NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani to restore law and order in the province.

July 21

Suspected Taliban militants detonated three blasts in the Bannu area.

July 22

Suspected militants reportedly attacked a Frontier Corps checkpoint with three rockets and injured one soldier in the Bakakhel area of Bannu district.

Security forces defused a bomb planted near a checkpoint in the Fizza Gat area.

July 23

A bomb exploded near Khwazakhela police station in the Matta area of Swat district, partially damaging its boundary wall and windowpanes of nearby houses. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

July 24

At least nine persons, including a woman, were reportedly killed and 40 others wounded when unidentified militants fired a series of rockets on civilian population in the Bannu city of NWFP. Police official Khawaja Muhammad said that a rocket hit a house at Tafsil Street in the Bannu main bazaar at around 1:35am. He said that when people gathered at the site another rocket landed in the area, killing nine people. He said that another rocket hit a house in the Gopa Khel area, one hit a bookstore in Chowk Bazaar, while a fifth rocket struck a mosque. Bannu District Coordination Officer Syed Jamaluddin Shah while confirming the nine deaths said "I am not sure if the attack was in revenge for Taliban commander Abdullah Mehsud’s death."

July 26

The proscribed TNSM has distanced itself from the recent bomb blasts on security agencies and also condemned the killing of security force personnel in the Dir district. TNSM district chief Badshah Zeb alias Gorkoi Mulla said that his movement had never resorted to violence against the government in its struggle for Sharia enforcement in the area. "Security forces personnel are our Muslim brothers and Islam does not allow killing of Muslims. No Mufti has issued any Fatwa (decree) to attack army or police and those carrying out attacks on forces or in public places are committing murders," he said. He claimed the TNSM had nothing to do with Maulana Fazlullah, who, he added, was not following the orders of his imprisoned father-in-law and TNSM founder Maulana Sufi Muhammad.

July 27

Three people were arrested in Peshawar for their alleged involvement in bomb blasts in the NWFP.

July 28

Three police personnel were killed when militants opened fire on them in the Lal Qila Midan area of the Lower Dir district. An unidentified caller informed police about the presence of armed people in a graveyard on Hiyaseri-Lal Qila road, sources said, adding, as the police reached the scene, the militants opened fire, killing Additional SHO Azam Khan and another police personnel. Another police personnel, identified as Shahzad Gul, sustained injuries in the firing and died later.

July 29

Suspected militants fired five rockets in Kohat from mountains near the Ghamkol refugee camp. Kohat District Police Officer Vaqar said that five rockets fell into the fields near the camp causing explosions. But, no loss of life or property was reported.

July 31

Suspected militants killed a FC soldier and abducted four others after a shootout with the paramilitary personnel in the Bannu district.

In the Tank district, six Frontier Corps personal were injured when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.

Four police personnel were wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb at Allabad area in the Swat district.

Militants hurled a hand grenade at former government official’s house at Kuza Banda in Kabal. But no casualties were reported.

August 1

Security forces raided a militant hideout at Bannu and subsequently attempted to free seven soldiers taken prisoner a day earlier. One captive soldier was killed, three rescued, and the militants escaped with the remaining three. The seven soldiers were seized by suspected militants on July 31 in NWFP as they rode in two vehicles.

A police checkpoint was blown up in the Shakardara area of Swat district. Suspected militants had reportedly planted an improvised explosive device at the post located at some 15 kilometres from Mingora.

August 3

A suicide blast targeting the family of a government official killed two persons and injured six members of the family in the Gora village of Swat district.

Four persons, including one police personnel and a prayer leader, sustained injuries in a bomb explosion near the Serai Naurang police station of Lakki Marwat district.

Police is reported to have defused a roadside bomb in the Sambat area of Swat district.

August 4

Militants blew up two unmanned police posts in the Swat district, but there were no casualties. The Sangota check post in the Mingorah police area and Alam Ganj check post in the Khozakhel police precincts were blown up. These had reportedly been earlier vacated due to security concerns.

Colonel Jawad and Colonel Sarfaraz of the Pakistan Army told a meeting of local elders, councillors and political leaders that there would be no military operation in Swat. They said the army had been called in to maintain law and order, which was why the troops did not retaliate despite terrorists’ attacks on the army.

August 6

Suspected pro-Taliban militants shot dead an alleged leader of a gang after he ignored warnings to stop criminal activities in the Darra Adam Khel town. Residents said 45-year old Ameer Sayed, had been warned by militants that he would be killed if he did not stop activities that allegedly included car jacking, drug smuggling and kidnapping for ransom.

Two personnel of the PAF and a child accompanying them were injured when a bomb exploded near their vehicle on the Kohat Road in Peshawar. The Bhana Manri police said the explosive device had been planted on the structure of under-construction shops along the main road, which exploded when the PAF vehicle was passing by the place.

Police seized three rocket-propelled grenades, one anti-aircraft gun and other arms and ammunition from a house in the Danna area of Mansehra district.

August 7

Three people were wounded in a bomb blast near a police station at Bannu.

A time-bomb exploded at a bus terminal in Peshawar, damaging a vehicle but causing no casualties.

Militants attacked a Frontier Corps check post at Bagh Deri in the Khwaza Khela area of Swat district, partially damaging its walls. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. Police also reportedly defused a 16-kg bomb placed near the check post.

Taliban militants snatched rifles from personnel of the Khasadar force in the Lakki Marwat district. More than 12 militants came to the Kotikhawa check post in the Shadikhel locality in three vehicles and snatched rifles from personnel of the Khasadar force. "Anyone among you if seen at the check post in future will be killed," sources quoted Taliban militants as having told the personnel.

Police arrested at least 14 people, including 11 suspected militants, trying to illegally enter Balochistan from the NWFP and also seized a large cache of weapons. Alleged foreign militants were reportedly en route to Balochistan via Dera Ismail Khan in two trucks, but security forces cordoned off the area and arrested them. Tajik nationals Agha Muhammad, Abdul Ghaffar, Samiullah and Bashir, Uzbek nationals Muhammad Hussain, Shah Wali, Muhammad Latif, Sheer Ahmed and Muhammad Taqqi, and an Afghan, Wahidullah, were arrested. Three local aides - Abdullah, Sarwar Khan and Hakeem Khan - were also arrested.

August 8

Taliban militants captured Chargano village at Darra Adamkhel when rival tribesmen surrendered to them after clashes which left five people dead and at least 10 others injured. Witnesses said that some 20 families of the Qasimkhel tribe surrendered themselves to the militants after 35-hour-long gun fight between the two sides. Both sides targeted each other’s positions with rockets and heavy machine-guns. After capturing the village, the Taliban militants were seen looting houses of tribesmen belonging to Qasimkhel.

A mortar shell hit a house in the Manikhel area, injuring six people while one child was wounded when a shell struck a compound in the Bazikhel village.

Militants fired five rockets, which landed in different areas of the Hangu city. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

The police foiled a terrorist attempt to target hit the Peshawar International Airport and seized five missiles aimed at the airport. The missiles had been placed on the bed of the Bara River near the Bazidkhel village.

August 10

The Taliban blew up eight houses of alleged criminals in a "drive against anti-social elements" at Darra Adam Khel. The Taliban also found four people, who had been abducted for ransom, and 18 stolen cars from the hideouts of the alleged criminals. The Taliban have so far killed four criminals, including Ameer Said alias Charg, the leader of an alleged criminal gang.

August 11

Three police personnel were killed by militants in the Hangu district. A police team was patrolling Hangu’s main road when the miscreants opened fire on them, killing constables Din Khan, Ahmad Hussain and Lal Muhammad. Two civilians, Hayat Nawaz and Khalid Nawaz, were also injured.

August 12

The provincial secretary-general of the banned SSP, Aslam Farooqui, was shot dead in Peshawar. Alam Zeb, brother of the deceased leader, caught hold of one the attackers and handed him over to police. A police official said one Shoaib Hussain of Parachinar, who belonged to a paramilitary force, had been arrested.

August 13

Four civilians were killed and eight others sustained injuries when a vehicle of the National Rural Support Programme struck a roadside explosive device in the Ushu Valley, near the tourist resort of Kalam in the Swat district.

The local Taliban handed over control of Darra Adam Khel to the government after a jirga (assembly) assured them that there would be no more criminal and ‘un-Islamic’ activities in the area. According to the agreement, the Taliban would retake control of Darra Adam Khel if the jirga or the local administration failed to fulfil their promise.

August 14

Two persons were wounded in a bomb blast at Toolianwala Chowk in the Dera Ghazi Khan district.

In a separate bomb blast at Fort Munro in the same district, another person was injured.

August 15

Two persons were killed in a bomb blast at Turlandi in the Swabi district. The bomb exploded at around 9:00am at Saleem Tuition Centre, about 30 kilometres from the district headquarters, killing two teachers, Salimullah and Umer Nasir. Police said one of the dead had links with some jihadi groups.

August 18

One police personnel was killed and four others sustained injuries when unidentified persons hurled a grenade targeting a checkpoint on the Kaki Road at Bannu.

Militants killed a policeman when they lobbed a hand grenade at a police checkpost in Bannu, said police officer Dar Ali Khattak. Five other officers were also injured in the attack.

A suicide bomber blew himself up in Bannu after being cornered by police, injuring a policeman and a civilian, informed the police officer.

Militants fired three rockets targeting an army garrison centre in the Thall town of Hangu district. One of the rockets landed in the main ground of the Baloch Regiment and the other two hit the fort’s building. No casualty or damage was reported.

Two home-made devices exploded near a military check-post close to the Signal Training Centre’s ground in Kohat cantonment, killing several buffaloes in the nearby army dairy farm.

Unidentified militants in the province’s Karak district have threatened some international oil exploration companies working in the area with suicide attacks if they did not withdraw Frontier Constabulary personnel from their offices. The Schlumberger, Mool and Tilo – all international oil exploration companies – had been threatened with suicide attacks. The Chinese company BJP, which is conducting a seismic survey in the area, had also been sent written threats. The companies were reportedly considering leaving the area due to the threats.

August 20

Six SF personnel were killed and 18 persons, including a civilian, were wounded when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a checkpoint on Kurram Road in the Hangu district. Hangu District Police Officer Ghulam Mohammad Khan disclosed that the suicide bomber came in a blue jeep from Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan, and struck the Militia Mandoori check-post. A woman is reported to have died when SFs opened indiscriminate fire after the incident. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide attack. Their purported spokesman, Abdul Hai Ghazi, said from Waziristan, "We carried out the suicide attack in Thall and killed 20 soldiers." He also said the bomber was from North Waziristan.

August 21

A bomb blast destroyed an oil tanker filled with petroleum at Landi Kotal. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported in the incident.

The Frontier Corps fort in the Tank city was partially damaged when unidentified attackers fired three rockets on it.

Security force personnel arrested Mumtaz, a top Taliban ‘commander’ from Afghanistan, during a raid in the Saddar Bazaar area of Peshawar. Mumtaz, hailing from the Nangarhar province, is believed to be a loyalist of senior Taliban leader Maulana Jalaluddin Haqqani.

The local Taliban have banned music and sale of narcotics in Zargari and some other areas of the Hangu district. Reports from Naryab village stated that the militants had set a deadline for owners of CD and cassette shops and narcotic dealers to terminate their businesses and warned that their shops or houses would be destroyed if they did not heed the call. They said the ban would be effective in Zargari, Shanawari, Chappari Naryab, Naryab and Kahi villages and some other areas. It announced violators will be fined PKR 50,000.

August 22

Three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel and three militants were killed when militants attacked a check-post jointly manned by police and FC personnel in the Miran police precincts of Bannu.

The Swat District Coordination Officer (DCO), Syed Mohammad Javed, has stopped NGOs from working in the district after they received threatening letters from suspected militants. Two NGOs – SPEED and PLAIN – which had set up offices near the office of the Swat DCO were sealed by the DCO. Militants have also sent threatening letters to Swat Serena Hotel and Mary Stopes, an NGO. Sources said the letters asked women performing in CD-dramas or working at beauty parlours to stop their "immoral activities". Earlier, medical representatives in Swat were asked to stop wearing paint/jeans and shirts as they are "un-Islamic dresses."

August 23

Unidentified militants targeted a police van with a remote-controlled explosive device in the Charbagh area of Swat district, injuring four police personnel.

August 24

In a suspected sectarian incident, unidentified assailants shot dead an activist of the banned SSP in the Dera Ismail Khan city. 22-year old Kaleen Ullah was shot dead in the Tareenabad Colony in Cantonment Police Station’s jurisdiction.

August 25

A man and his two children were injured in a bomb blast outside their house in the Miankhel Bazaar of Kohat town.

Suspected militants attacked a camp of Thall Scouts of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the Hangu district with four rockets. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

In the Bannu district, police seized 31 rockets from a car and arrested three people in the Bakakhel area.

Militants blew up four video centres in the Swari Bazaar of Buner district. Militants had sent threatening letters a few days ago to the owners of video centres located at the general bus stand and another video centre at Dozukh market

August 26

Four police personnel were killed and two others sustained injuries in a suicide attack on a police van in the mountainous Shangla district. It was reportedly the first-ever terrorist incident in the Shangla district.

August 27

Security forces arrested a local doctor, pediatrician Dr Muhammad Rasool, and the wife of an Arab al Qaeda explosives expert in a pre-dawn raid on a house in the Dir Lower district, triggering protests from the Jamaat-e-Islami party which termed the arrests as "American agenda." "We had actionable intelligence that Muhammad Yousaf alias Abdur Rahim, a Saudi Arabian national, was in the house but he fled before we conducted the raid," sources said.

August 28

Police arrested Habibullah alias Talib, an alleged militant, and seized five hand-grenades and two Kalashnikovs from his residence at Cheena Deri in the Buner district. The raid was reportedly conducted in the aftermath of a serried of bomb blasts that damaged three video-shops in the Swari bazaar.

August 29

A civilian was injured when suspected militants fired a rocket on a vehicle in the Yakatoot police precinct of Peshawar. Yakatoot Police Station Duty Officer Syed Bacha said that a rocket hit a bus leaving for Parachinar with 14 passengers on board. He said the attack partially damaged the vehicle and that a passenger named Israr Ali was wounded.

Threats purportedly issued by the local Taliban to different segments of society have increased in the Buner district. In a letter pasted at a local mosque in the district headquarters hospital, doctors were asked to ‘mend their ways,’ and stop charging fee from patients, ban the entry of men in women wards and during surgeries. A warning was also issued to owners of medical store asking them to grow beard and end the practice of overcharging customers and selling substandard drugs. Taxi drivers in the hospital’s car parking area have been asked to stop playing music in their vehicles.

August 30

Seven security force personnel died and an unspecified number of people were wounded when suspected militants attacked the FC check post at Swat.

Militants destroyed a plaque that had been erected recently on a bridge in Takhtaband in memory of three police personnel killed in a suicide attack on July 12.

Police seized 10 bags of explosives from a passenger bus in Bannu and arrested the driver.

The Police arrested seven people and seized a large quantity of illegal weapons during a raid on an arms bazaar in Kohat. Police officer Athar Waheed disclosed that some arms dealers had brought smuggled weapons from Darra Adam Khel and got registration numbers for them from local manufacturers.

Owners of video centres and barbers in several areas of Swat have received threatening letters asking them to terminate their businesses or face the consequences. Nisar, owner of Nisar Video Centre in Gulab Market, reportedly closed his business and burnt the CDs and other material in Matta Bazaar. He stated that the previous night attacks destroyed six CD shops, in addition to damaging nearly two dozen nearby shops and three houses. The owners of CDs shops received threatening letters 15 days ago and several shops at the market were blown up after the expiry of the deadline. Barbers in Matta have also been threatened to wind up their business within 15 days or face a similar fate. The threatening letters contain the words "Taliban Zindabad" at the end, but there is no reference to the organisation that had issued the letters.

August 31

Two soldiers of the Frontier Corps (FC) and a civilian were killed and eight people sustained injuries in two attacks at Mingora. FC personnel and police stationed at the Pakistan-Australia Institute for Hotel Management came under attack in the Guli Bagh area leading to the death of two paramilitary soldiers, Noor Bahadur and Waheed Nawaz, and injuries to six soldiers. Official sources said that a police patrol rushed to the area and struck an improvised explosive device on the Langar Road. A civilian, Hazrat Ali, who had been arrested for timber smuggling and was in the police van, was killed in the blast while two police personnel were wounded.

September 6

Suspected militants beheaded two women, identified as Maino and Malaki, for alleged prostitution in the Cantonment Police precincts of Bannu. An unnamed police officer stated that the two women were abducted on the same day from Sokari Jaba and their bodies were later found in Domanzi.

September 7

Suspected militants blew up 63 CD and shoe shops in the Mina Bazaar and Ali Plaza area of Swat and partially damaged 21 nearby shops, but there were no casualties. In Ali Plaza, the explosion destroyed 19 shops selling shoes and a mobile repairing shop in the basement, while 27 CD shops and a mobile repairing shop were destroyed in the first floor of the plaza. In Mina Bazaar, the blast destroyed 15 CD shops and partially damaged nine nearby shops. Around 12 mobile repairing shops were partially damaged in Qadria Market. Offices of Daily Times, Aaj TV and Online news agency were also partially damaged due to the Mina Bazaar blasts. A few days ago, unidentified people had reportedly threatened the owners of these video and CDs shops through letters, warning them to close their "un-Islamic" business or face bomb attacks. The owners of the video centres had started negotiating with the local administration to find alternative businesses. However, the militants bombed the CD shops after the deadline expired.

September 8

Four soldiers were killed and another two injured when suspected militants opened fire on a small military convoy in the Kohistan district. It was reportedly the first attack on the army in Kohistan.

At least 24 persons were injured when a time bomb planted in a car exploded within the limits of the East Cantonment police station in Peshawar at around 11.15 am.

September 9

Militants triggered a bomb blast at Islampura in Mingora district that destroyed a video centre owned by one Gul Shad and partially damaged three other shops. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

Taliban militants destroyed two oil tankers in Darra Adamkhel. The tankers were returning after delivering oil to foreign troops in Afghanistan. According to sources, the militants sprinkled oil on the tankers and set them ablaze. However, the drivers escaped unhurt.

September 10

Barbers have imposed a ban on shaving the beard and fixed PKR 5,000 fine for violation of their decision. Some of the 500 members who attended a meeting held at the home of Swat barbers’ federation president Fazal Khalid reportedly stated that they had received threatening letters from militants.

September 11

11 personnel of the Frontier Constabulary were abducted and a police constable and three other people were injured when militants attacked a check-post in Azad Mandi area of Bannu. The militants fired rockets and lobbed hand-grenades at the post manned jointly by paramilitary forces and police. Local people said that about 120 militants who took part in the attack surrounded the post and forced the soldiers to surrender their weapons. Militants also took away 23 AK-47 rifles, one light machinegun, 72,000 rounds of ammunition, communication tools and other equipment from the check-post. An armoured personnel carrier parked near the post was reportedly damaged in the attack.

September 13

Nine shops, including six of CD shops, were destroyed in a bomb blast in a market in the Bilitang town. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

September 14

Intelligence agencies arrested a suspect, who they believed could have provided clues to the lone suicide bomber who struck a special anti-terrorist unit in Tarbela Ghazi near Islamabad on September 13 and killed 15 soldiers, from a village in Swabi. Security personnel raided a house in Haider colony in the sub-district of Topi and arrested Amir Mohammad Khan along with his two brothers. Officials said that Amir had retired from army one and a half years ago.

September 15

A video centre was destroyed completely and more than a dozen shops damaged partially when an IED exploded at Pir Baba area, injuring two civilians.

September 19

Militants ransacked and then blew up a hotel at Chota Kalaam in the Swat area of NWFP. The militants took the hotel owner and staff and later dropped them off at a deserted place. The Sardar Hotel owner said he received anonymous letters threatening to destroy the hotel because women customers came to eat at his restaurant, which the letters termed "un-Islamic".

September 20

Five security force personnel sustained injuries when a bomb exploded near Paithom Hotel in the Gali Bagh area of Swat district. Swat district Police Officer Muhammad Iqbal confirmed the incident, saying that a patrol unit had reached the hotel at around 8.15 am (PST), when a remote-controlled bomb exploded, injuring five people at the hotel. One of the injured, head constable Fazal Nawab, later succumbed to his injuries.

September 21

Pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah asked his followers to hit official targets, after the government ignored a demand to release his supporters. Abduction of government officials was part of the targets that the cleric said should be achieved. "I ask you to attack the targets. Now I will show the government what I can do," he told a council at Iman Dheri outside Mingora city, his headquarters. Earlier, local police had arrested three persons, in connection with the Patham Hotel explosion, whom the cleric declared as his followers and demanded their immediate release.

September 22

A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden jeep into a military truck near Tank, killing himself and wounding three soldiers.

September 23

Local Taliban in Kohat have warned tailors to strictly observe religious code while sewing clothes for men and women and keep their shops shut during prayer time. In a letter sent to tailors, the Taliban claiming to be from the Jamaat-i-Islami asked them not to play music during night and threatened to blow up the shops of those not following the orders.

September 26

Two militants of the Taliban were killed and eight others sustained injuries during a clash with a gang of alleged criminals in the Naryab area of Hangu district. The encounter reportedly continued for several hours and the Taliban took seven men of the gang hostage. They also took away a vehicle and set another on fire. The Taliban also abducted three men of the group from the Doaba area.

Seven shops were destroyed when a bomb planted near a barber shop in the Matta area of Swat district exploded. The Matta police station house officer said that some militants, who were presumed to have planted the bomb, also fired at the police station. However, no casualties were reported.

Militants belonging to some unnamed banned outfits have started a new campaign of issuing life threats through letters to Christians, especially in the NWFP and Punjab for the last three months. Aftab Alexander Mughal, in his report on minorities' concerns in Pakistan, said Christians in Peshawar, Charsadda and Shantinagar had been receiving threatening letters for the last three months. The letters read, "We have already sent you letters some times back but you did not listen to our advice. We know that either you have torn or burnt the letters. Through this action you have committed blasphemy and you are liable to death. We will spare you only if you follow our demand otherwise you will be killed." He said people were scared and did not know what to do. "Police and other local authorities are not taking this issue seriously and they are living in fear. Christians, Hindus and Sikhs form a tiny minority in the NWFP and are living under constant pressure. Many laws also curtail their freedom as equal citizens. The blasphemy law is a classic example, which has been misused against us," he added.

September 29

Buildings of two girls’ schools in the Kabal area of Swat district were damaged by a bomb blast. Militants, who have been targeting women’s educational institutions for a couple of weeks, had planted an explosive device in the Government Girls’ High School, near the Kabal police station, which exploded, damaging part of the building and the wall of the adjacent Government Girls’ Primary School.

An anti-terrorism court at Dera Ismail Khan sentenced a man to rigorous imprisonment for 24 years after convicting him of being a would-be suicide bomber. The man, Sohail Zeb, was arrested by the Tank city police on March 8, 2007, along with two jackets used in suicide bombings, explosives and nuts and bolts. Besides the jail sentence, the judge also fined him PKR 50,000. The name of Sohail Zeb, who was a student of the Tank Degree College, was in the list prisoners whose release was sought by militants during talks with a tribal jirga (council) held for the release of abducted soldiers in South Waziristan. The convict, whose organisational name was Waheedullah, had admitted during interrogation to having received terrorist training in a camp in the Azam Warsak area of South Waziristan.

October 1

A suicide bomber disguised in a woman’s burqa (veil) blew himself up at a busy police check-post in Bannu killing at least 16 people, including four police personnel, and injuring 29 persons. Police officer Asar Islam told, "A man disguised in a burqa got out of an auto-rickshaw when police stopped the vehicle for a search at a checkpoint. He then blew himself up."

35 troops went missing in the Bakka Khail area of Bannu. They are suspected to have been abducted by the militants after a gunfight. Abdul Nawaz Khan, district officer of the Bannu frontier force, said more than 100 militants had surrounded a post, and communication with the troops had then been lost.

Two Frontier Constabulary personnel were killed in a militant attack on the Rocha check-post in Bannu.

Six army soldiers were injured when the regional headquarters of the Frontier Constabulary located near the naval recruitment centre in Swat came under a rocket and mortar.

October 2

Two police personnel, Tajjamul Hussain and Taj Hussain, and a Levies Force soldier, Arbab Khan, were killed and two others wounded when militants attacked a check-post on the main Thall Road in the Hangu town. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Irshad Khan, told journalists that unidentified persons in a car attacked the Kotki check-post when the police personnel were breaking the Ramadan fast. The check-post is adjacent to the residence of NWFP Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai.

A spokesman for the cleric, Maulana Fazalullah, denied involvement in the recent attacks and bomb blasts in Swat. "Our movement and activists are peaceful and they have no role in the violent and terrorist attacks in the district," the spokesman, Sirajuddin, said. "We do not believe in intimidating, harming or killing Muslims, and this is against the teachings of Islam," Sirajuddin claimed. He also said the Lal Masjid operation had caused hatred among people against the army and the law and order situation would worsen if movement of troops in the area continued. He stated, "We do not want army’s deployment here. Before deployment no violent incident had taken place in Swat. Peace will prove elusive as long as army is stationed here."

October 3

A man was killed when a bomb he was carrying exploded near the Nishat Chowk in Mingora. Officials were uncertain about the target of the attack. It was not clear if the man was a suicide bomber, the officials added.

October 6

Five paramilitary soldiers, abducted last week along with 28 others from Bakakhel in the Bannu district, escaped from their captors and returned home. Militants had captured at least 33 soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary after an attack on the Rocha check-post in Bakakhel on October 1. Two soldiers were killed and seven others were freed the next day.

October 7

Militants beheaded a man they said was ‘spying for the government’. The body of Gul Faraz was dumped in the Darra Adamkhel bazaar and a note found near it alleged that the man was a ‘government spy’. It warned other ‘spies’ of a similar fate if they did not stop helping the ‘corrupt administration’.

Another body was found on a mountain near Darra Adamkhel town. It could not be identified, but officials suspect he had been killed by the local Taliban.

October 8-9

There were at least 12 bomb blasts, including nine in Swat and three in Malakand agency, while two barber shops were targeted in Lower Dir on the night between October 8 and 9. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported in these blasts.

October 9

25 people were injured in a bomb blast at the Hussain CD Market in Peshawar. The bomb, planted on a water cooler, exploded at 4pm (PST) when a large number of people were present in the plaza. It was a Russian-made time device, which badly damaged at least 10 shops, police and officials of the Bomb Disposal Squad said. Capital City Police Officer Abdul Majeed Marwat linked the incident to the series of bomb attacks on CD shops across the province. An unknown radical outfit had reportedly been issuing threatening letters to owners of CD shops for the last four months to terminate their "un-Islamic" business, otherwise, they would be taken to task.

October 10

The NWFP Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzai dissolved the provincial assembly and appointed the former Water and Power Development Authority chairman Shamsul Mulk as the caretaker chief minister.

October 11

Two soldiers were injured when an improvised explosive device struck a military convoy coming from North Waziristan near Bannu.

October 12

The pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah’s private Shariah court reportedly punished three alleged criminals by lashing them in public. "After the government’s indifference, we have set up our own private Islamic court to dispense justice to the people and today is the beginning of the struggle for a cherished goal (enforcement of Shariah)," Sirajuddin, spokesman for Maulana Fazlullah said after the court’s first Islamic punishment was executed in the Swat district. According to the spokesman, the three alleged criminals were caught "red-handed" while trying to abduct two women from the Matta sub-division in September 2007. Shamroz, Bukhtiar and Muhammad Sher were awarded 25, 20 and 15 lashes each, respectively.

October 13

Four persons were killed and another sustained injuries when militants ambushed their vehicle in the Arkot area of Swat district. Local people said a businessman, Afzal Gujar, was injured, while his two brothers — Ayub Khan and Ahsanullah — and Shahzaman and Akber Bacha were killed.

October 21

Eight shops, including a barbershop, were blown up in Bunair district’s Pirbaba area. The barber told reporters that he had received a threatening letter a few days ago asking him not to shave or trim beards. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

October 22

A pro-Taliban militant was killed and two others wounded in a failed attempt to blow up the office of a women’s rights group in the Karak district. The militants had been attempting to plant a bomb at the Khawando Kor (sisters’ home), local police officer Hajit Khan said. The bomb exploded prematurely and one militant was killed, Khan said, adding that two injured accomplices had been arrested. The office was not damaged. The trio had taken part in the war against the Soviets in neighbouring Afghanistan in the 1980s and was now supporting the Taliban in NWFP. The Khawando Kor group, which has several offices across the NWFP, has been promoting education and increased rights for women in the area.

October 23

At least four security force personnel were injured in a bomb attack on a military caravan in the Chak Darrah area of Malakand. Some unidentified men reportedly blew up with a remote-controlled bomb a ration-laden truck included in a 50-vehicle military convoy moving to the Swat district.

Police arrested three individuals suspected to have links with al Qaeda in the Muhalla Gulbahir locality of Mardan. They were identified as Asmatullah, an Afghan national, Shahzad, a generator mechanic, and his assistant Sirtaj. Asmatullah is reported to have returned to Multan from Karachi a few days ago. The brother of Shahzad, the arrested generator mechanic, was killed in Kashmir and was a member of the outlawed Sunni group LeJ.

October 24

Two persons were wounded in three bomb blasts that targeted the offices of the PWD and National Rural Support Programme at Daggar in the Buner district. The owner of the building which housed the PWD office said he had received threats from some people alleging that the government department was involved in anti-Islam activities.

The army had announced that it was sending in 2,500 additional troops to Swat to maintain law and order.

October 25

18 soldiers and two civilians died and 35 others, including nine civilians, were injured in a bomb blast aimed at a vehicle carrying FC personnel in the Swat district. The blast occurred at Nawan Killi, about a kilometer from Swat city, at around 2:45 pm (PST). It set off an explosion of ammunition carried inside the military truck, triggering bullet fire. The blast also damaged 25 shops, a service station, a CNG station and a petrol pump. Deputy Inspector-General of Police Akhtar Ali Shah said the evidence suggested a suicide bombing. A close aide of Maulana Fazlullah, a cleric who heads the pro-Taliban group TNSM said that the cleric’s supporters were not behind the blast. "

October 26

Militants publicly executed four security force personnel in a village, 16-km west of Mingora, the headquarters of Swat district, and exchanged heavy gunfire with security forces in a nearby sub-district.

NWFP Home Secretary said two civilians were killed and another wounded in an encounter between militants and security forces in Imam Dheri, the village of Maulana Fazlullah, leader of the TNSM.

October 27

Militants publicly executed two more security force personnel and seven civilians in the Swat district, taking the total such killings since October 26 to 13. Maulana Sirajuddin, spokesman for the pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah, confirmed that they had beheaded the security force personnel.

October 28

At least 29 people were killed and 55 others wounded on the third consecutive day of clashes between Taliban militants and the SFs in the Swat district. The dead included 15 militants, 11 SF personnel and three civilians. A girl was killed and 12 civilians injured by stray shells fired during the fighting between militants and SFs.

Unidentified terrorists attacked the Peshawar Cantonment with three rockets, one of which landed at the residence of nationalist leader Bashir Ahmad Bilour, narrowly missing the US Consulate building in the city. Russian-made MBR-12 rockets were fired through a launcher from Bazidkhel village on the outskirts of the provincial capital. Two other rockets were recovered from the spot. No loss of life was reported in the attack.

October 29

Pro-Taliban militants and security forces agreed to a temporary cease-fire in the Swat district after four days of clashes in which at least 60 militants were killed. "There is a temporary (truce) arrangement," said NWFP Inspector General Police Sharif.

The NWFP Home Secretary Badshah Gul Wazir said that there were "reports around 60 miscreants were killed in three days of fighting. The toll could be higher." He said that a total of 20 security force personnel and civilians were killed since October 26. Another eight soldiers and four police personnel were missing, he added.

October 30

Six persons were wounded in a bomb blast inside the office of Sustainable Participatory Organisation, a non-governmental organization, at Battagram. Police said that some people had also fired rockets on an army camp and the offices of Care Pakistan, an international NGO, had come under intense fire in Battagram on October 29-night.

October 31

Official sources said that a paramilitary camp in Kanju and an army base in Kabal were attacked, but there were no casualties.

A supporter of Fazlullah known as Mullah Nidar warned in a speech over the radio that the militants may use suicide attackers if the government launched any major operation in Swat.

October 31-November 1

Fierce clashes ensued on October 31-night between the militants and the security forces SFs at Khwazakhela town in the Swat district with conflicting reports about casualties. The NWFP Home Secretary, Badshah Gul Wazir, put the number of casualties at 60-70, all militants, while the Taliban spokesman claimed that only one of their colleagues and seven civilians, including two women, were killed. There were, however, some independent reports of the killing of 56 people, including 41 militants and 11 SF personnel, and injuries to some 26 persons. According to some reports, a FC camp also came under the Taliban siege, which the Home Secretary rejected. Sirajuddin, who is the spokesman and military commander of Maulana Fazlullah, claimed that they had taken at least 70 paramilitary soldiers and two foreigners as hostage.

November 2

Militants loyal to pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah paraded 48 SF personnel before the media in Swat. The SF personnel had surrendered during a week of fierce clashes. One unnamed soldier said, "The militants told us that we would not be harmed if we surrender. If not, then the entire population from the village below will climb up the hill and may kill you." The soldiers subsequently were given PKR 500 each before being released. One of the soldiers said that they do not want to fight with their Muslim brothers who are fighting for the implementation of Sharia.

Maulana Fazlullah met a delegation of clerics and local politicians and called for the withdrawal of troops from Swat to open the way for negotiations to end days of fighting.

An explosion at the Karkhano Market of the Peshawar city destroyed at least 14 shops and cabins selling CDs, TV sets and music albums. The bomb exploded at the junction of SS and Shinwari Markets and also damaged two electricity transformers.

November 5

An army major is injured as a remote-controlled improvised explosive device hits a Special Services Group military vehicle in the town of Nowshera. Pabbi police station official Sardar Hussain says, "The SSG jeep carrying Colonel Sajid and Major Ayaz was bombed at Daurabad Bridge around 8.15am when it was coming from Chirat Cantonment to Nowshera." It is reportedly the second attack on SSG personnel after the force took part in an operation against Lal Masjid in Islamabad in July 2007.

Sporadic clashes continue between local Taliban militants and security force personnel in the four subdivisions of Swat.

November 5

Militants capture Madyan town and hoist their flags over buildings after security forces surrender. "They seized Madyan town today, they have already overrun Matta and Khawazakhela towns," said an unnamed police official. He admitted that the police gave up their weapons, vehicles and control of local police stations.

November 6

Pro-Taliban militants captured one police station, paramilitary force camp and other government buildings at Kalam, extending their hold over the Swat valley. Militants loyal to the rebel cleric Maulana Fazlullah are reportedly in control of six tehsils (revenue division), including Kabal, Matta, Khawazakhela, Charbagh, Maydan and Kalam, out of the eight tehsils in the Swat district. Militants have ‘appointed’ officials in the towns they control and ‘seized’ government and non governmental organisation vehicles. Before taking Kalam, the militants captured the town of Bahrain.

Government continues its crackdown on political leaders across NWFP and arrested eight Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz leaders, two Awami National Party leaders and dozens of other political activists.

November 7

Government either arrested or placed under house arrest 10 leaders of the PML-N, the Awami National Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami in Peshawar.

November 8

A person, Rustam Ali Shah, is shot dead by an unidentified assailant at his residence in the Bannu district.

At least 60 Frontier Constabulary personnel surrender and hand over their weapons to Taliban militants who besiege Drushkhela camp at Matta tehsil (revenue unit) of Swat district.

November 9

Three persons are killed and two others, including a former provincial minister, are injured when a suicide bomber blows himself up in the house of Federal Minister for Political Affairs Amir Muqam in Peshawar. The blast occurs at around 3.45pm (PST) when the minister was having a meeting with some of his associates at his home in Hayatabad. Muqam, who is also provincial president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, escaped unhurt.

At least two soldiers are killed and 14 others wounded when a military convoy hits a roadside bomb near Kabal in the Swat district.

Militants set free all the 51 Frontier Constabulary personnel, who surrendered before the Maulana Fazlullah-led militants at Darushkhela town in the Matta subdivision.

November 10

One shopping complex is destroyed when a bomb exploded near Police check-post No. 4 at Muslim Bazar in the Dera Ismail Khan district. Muhammad Asif Ali Wala, the owner of the shopping complex, said that goods worth PKR 1 million were completely destroyed.

November 11

Militants abduct a cleric, Mufti Muhammad Ali, from Banday in the Swat district for his alleged connivance with the security forces. He was also running a private FM radio station.

November 12

A militant and a civilian were killed and five other people were injured when Cobra helicopters and ground forces attacked suspected positions of militants in the Swat district, after the government deployed army troops to defeat the militancy in the district.

Security forces arrested a top militant accused of harbouring al Qaeda insurgents, beheading troops and supplying arms to TNSM leader Maulana Fazlullah. Major General Arshad confirmed that security forces had arrested a "top suspect involved in militancy". "He is under interrogation. The man identified himself as Parwant and says he is local," he said, adding the man’s real name was not yet known.

"Yes, the army has taken over command in Swat from Monday and will lead security forces to eliminate militancy," military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad told Dawn from Islamabad.

The militants stated that they will not surrender or end their movement without achieving their objectives. "We will lay down arms when the government enforces Sharia in Swat; otherwise we’re ready to die," Maulana Mohammad Alam, commander of the militants in Khwazakhela, said at a public meeting.

November 13

Four militants were killed and over 50 others injured as army helicopters continued pounding their positions in various areas of the Swat district late on November 12-night and early on November 13. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad confirmed that four militants were killed and four or five of their bunkers and an ammunition dump were destroyed as gunship helicopters targeted their hideouts in the Sambat area. Another militant check-post in the Kabal revenue division was also destroyed, he informed, adding that approximately 35 militants were injured in the air-strike.

At least 20 militants were injured when they tried to attack and capture the Saidu Sharif airport late on November 12-night, said Gen Waheed, adding that five suspects, including four locals and one Afghan, were detained by paramilitary personnel in Chakdara on November 13. He said telephone directories had been confiscated from the suspects. "Some weapons were also recovered from their possession," he stated. While the spokesman said the government was not aware of any civilian deaths during the operation, locals however said that one civilian was killed and seven wounded in the aerial strikes on November 12-night and November 13.

Around 500 local Taliban militants took over control of Shangla district headquarter Alpuri, occupying the District Police Office, District Coordination Office and police lines offices without facing any resistance from the government. Eyewitnesses said the armed militants urged locals to stay calm and extend all possible support to them. Alpuri union council Nazim Sabir told Daily Times that the armed militants, led by Maulana Muhammad Alam, a close associate of TNSM leader Maulana Fazlullah, captured the district.

The government imposed a curfew in Swat, the army said. "The curfew has been imposed to check the movement of the militants," chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP, adding that it would be in force from midnight November 13 to November 14.

A man died when a bomb exploded in a cyber café in the Gulbahar police precincts of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. Gulbahar Police Station Investigation Officer Mirza Khan informed that a Russian made bomb, weighing around 700-800 grams, exploded around 2.30pm in the Nihar Net Café located near the Gulbahar Police Station. Senior Superintendent of Police Tahir Khan stated that the blast had blown off both hands of the deceased, and "it seems that he was trying to plant the bomb".

Two police personnel were injured when over two dozen armed men chanting slogans in favour of the Taliban hurled two grenades on a police check-post in the Khaki town of Mansehra district.

November 14

Thirty-three militants, two soldiers and five civilians were killed as army helicopters continued targeting Taliban positions in various areas of Swat for the third consecutive day. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP that 17 militants were killed when gunship helicopters attacked their vehicle, while the remaining 16 were killed in separate clashes.

Five civilians, including two minors, were also killed in bombing by army helicopters in the Shangla and Kabal revenue divisions. However, the military spokesman confirmed the deaths of only two civilians.

Eight military personnel were injured as unidentified militants targeted their convoy with a remote-controlled bomb in Batkhela.

Security forces and Taliban militants exchanged fire in the Baily Baba area, located around six kilometres from Alpuri, the Shangla town taken over by militants on November 13.

Two music centres were destroyed partially when a bomb planted near Gam Ghol in the Kohat area exploded. However, no casualties were reported.

Militants blew up another music centre in Teri Bazaar in the Karak district.

A bomb planted near a girls’ primary school in Adina, some 18km west of Swabi, exploded, damaging its boundary wall and windows. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast, but about 10 days ago a letter sent by the local Tehrik-i-Taliban to non-governmental organisations and schools run by them, video centres and internet cafes in the district had asked them to wind up their activities and businesses.

November 15

Thirty more people, including 20 militants and four civilians, were killed and more than 70 others, including 50 civilians, injured as security forces continued bombing suspected militants’ hideouts in the Shangla and Swat districts on the third consecutive day. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad confirmed that 20 militants were killed - 12 of them in Shangla and eight in Swat.

The News quoting Army sources based in the Swat district reports that 20 more militants were killed when troops backed by helicopter gun ships and artillery attacked pro-Taliban militants in Kuza Banda, Basham and Shangla. Six persons, including three women, sustained injuries when gunship helicopters targeted residential buildings in Kuza Banda and Charbagh.

There are 500 to 700 militants operating in small groups in different troubled areas of the NWFP, The News reported. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad stated this to a private television channel, while commenting on the present situation in the Swat district. He said the militant groups do not have a broad-based support of locals therefore they terrify peace-loving civilians to co-operate with them. He claimed that the militants were being supported and funded from outside the area. There are also reports regarding presence of some foreign elements, he said adding that there were several incidents of torture and victimisation of those who did not co-operate with them.

November 16

Police said dozens of militants were wounded when their hideouts were neutralized in various parts of Swat district.

Militants captured Puran subdivision in the Shangla district. Militant spokesman Sirajuddin told The News that they had captured the subdivision and later handed it over to a commission of local pro-Taliban Ulema (clerics) and elders on the condition they would not allow the security forces and police in the town. "They signed an agreement with us and promised physical and financial assistance," he claimed. He said that the Ulema and elders would now run affairs of the subdivision, as police and other government officials had disappeared before militants’ arrival. Residents in Puran said after their arrival in the town, the militants set up check-posts at Yakh Tangi, Dherai Top on Chakesar Road and Dua village. "By capturing both the subdivisions – Alpuri and Puran – they virtually took hold of the whole Shangla district," said a local union council official.

November 17

Pakistan Army accelerated its operation in the Swat and Shangla districts killing 20 militants. Officials and local residents told that artillery and mortar shelling forced the militants to retreat from Alpuri subdivision, which serves as district headquarters of Shangla. Military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad told that security forces targeted militant hideouts and positions in different areas of Shangla district, killing 20 militants and injuring several others. He further said that Alpuri was cleared of militants.

November 18

More than 40 people, including 10 civilians, were killed in the Swat and Shangla districts when gunship helicopters and security forces continued targeting militants’ hideouts and faced retaliation. Approximately 30 civilians were injured in the prolonged shelling by military choppers and artillery in the two districts. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad said that the security forces continued pounding militants’ strongholds in both the regions but said he did not have the actual death toll suffered by the militants on November 18. Gen Waheed also termed a claim made by militants’ spokesman Sirajuddin to have killed 45 Pakistani soldiers in the Belay Baba area of Shangla district as baseless and ridiculous, saying that when the ground forces did not take part in any kind of activity, then how did they kill the soldiers.

The military spokesperson disclosed that about 120 militants had been killed in the past few days, with five soldiers also dying in the clashes.

A railway employee died in a bomb blast at a railway track near the Ajab Khan area, in the Azakhel police precincts of Nowshera district.

November 19

Thirty-five more persons, including 16 Taliban militants and seven soldiers, were killed in fresh clashes between the security forces (SFs) and militants.

Thousands of people started fleeing their villages in the Kabal sub-division after announcements were made by SFs asking them to leave the area, as the army was set to launch a massive operation against what it called terrorists hiding there. Unnamed officials stated that over 500,000 people have so far fled the region. Majority of them shifted downtowns mostly to Malakand Agency, Mardan, Charsadda, Nowshera, Peshawar and Islamabad. Meanwhile, militants reportedly made announcements asking people not to leave their homes as they had arranged suicide bombers in case SFs came out of their bases to attack them.

In what appears to be a revenge action for sectarian killings at Parachinar in the FATA, the Taliban beheaded three truck drivers near Darra Adamkhel. The drivers belonging to the Juzara and Marai areas of Kohat district had been abducted by the Taliban on November 18-evening when they were passing through the Darra Adamkhel bazaar on their way to the troubled Kurram Agency. The three were identified as Islam, Fateh Ali and Rafique. After the incident, a mosque in Darra Bazaar came under fire when prayers were in progress. Six people were injured in the attack. Tribesmen reportedly chased the culprits and killed one of them and arrested another. Later, the Taliban took away the body from the Zarghunkhel hospital. According to unconfirmed reports, the Taliban had abducted three more people from Darra Adamkhel after checking their national identity cards.

November 20

At least 30 more militants loyal to the pro-Taliban group TNSM were killed in clashes with security forces (SFs) in the Swat valley of NWFP, the army said. The latest deaths take the toll reported by the army from a week of fighting to around 150. "Our offensive against militants has been continuing since last night and there are reports that 20 to 30 more militants have been killed," military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP. Maulana Fazlullah’s spokesman, meanwhile, claimed that 15 soldiers had been killed and their weapons seized in the Shangla district, but the calm could not be confirmed from independent sources, Dawn reported.

Waheed said troops were now controlling a key road in Swat's Shangla district, which leads to Alpuri. Residents in different areas of Swat valley said that gunfire continued and helicopters hovered in the sky as scores of people abandoned their homes in the Dagai and Akhund Kalai areas of Kabal sub-division.

Civilians were reported fleeing in large numbers from various parts of Shangla and the government sought the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to set up four relief camps.

Militants attacked a police station in the Kabal area and three rockets landed near an army camp. No casualty was reported in the incidents.

A police constable was wounded in a bomb attack on a police station in the Rustam village of Mardan district. Deputy Inspector General of Police, Ghulam Mohammad, said the explosion could be a reaction to the army operation launched against militants in the Malakand region.

A police post was destroyed in a rocket attack in Dir Lower. However, there was no casualty.

A locally-manufactured bomb exploded near the gate of a girls’ high school in Shawa Tehsil Adenzai. The bomb exploded about half an hour before the school was to open. No casualty was reported.

The militants were reported to have started abducting local people, particularly their opponents, in certain areas of Swat.

November 21

Some 52 persons, including 30 militants and 10 civilians, were killed in fresh violence in the Swat and Shangla districts as the troops and Taliban militants continued to clash and more villages were emptied of their fleeing population. On the casualties suffered by the security forces (SFs), military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad said three soldiers were killed and five or six sustained injuries in attacks by militants in the Kabal area of Swat. While he expressed ignorance about military casualties in the adjoining Shangla district, unconfirmed reports said seven soldiers were killed in fighting there. Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (Fazlur Rehman faction) Senator Rahat Hussain, who belongs to Shangla, and other sources said seven SF personnel, seven civilians and 30 militants were killed in the latest round of fighting in the district.

A huge explosion was reported near the Saidu Sharif airport. SF sources said a car filled with explosives exploded when it failed to stop at a military checkpoint and was fired at by the troops. They said the driver was on a suicide mission and had loaded the car with a big quantity of explosives. The militants’ spokesman Sirajuddin, based in Mamdheray village near Mingora city, admitted that the car was being used for a suicide bombing attack.

Unidentified terrorists attacked the Bannu Cantonment with nine rockets that landed at different places. No report of casualty was, however, received from any part of the Cantonment as the rockets mostly landed on barren land.

November 22

Another 25-30 militants and 13 civilians were killed and several soldiers injured in fighting in the Swat and Shangla districts even as the exodus of villagers continued. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad informed that 25-30 militants were killed in fighting in Shangla. He said the Army used gunship helicopters and artillery and mortar guns to target the militant hideouts and evicted them from Shangla. He admitted that six to seven soldiers were wounded in the fighting in Shangla and an unspecified number of troops sustained injuries in Swat.

The militants released two paramilitary soldiers in the presence of reporters in Mamdheray village, the headquarters of TNSM chief Maulana Fazlullah located across the River Kabul from Mingora city. The duo disclosed that they were captured by the Taliban at Salanda village near Manglawar in Swat and kept in a dark room bereft of sunshine. They also said they had seen the bearded Army major and six other soldiers who were abducted by the militants near Shamozai area in Swat in Taliban custody.

Official sources said the military’s signal corps had blocked Maulana Fazlullah’s FM radio and the militants in control of Fazlullah seminary on the banks of River Swat had pulled down their antenna. The military has set up five of their own FM channels, including one using Fazlullah’s radio frequency, to block the cleric’s broadcasts.

The NWFP caretaker government sent a delegation of two ministers and the Inspector General of Police and the Home Secretary to a hospital in the provincial capital Peshawar to hold talks with the ailing TNSM leader Maulana Sufi Mohammad and seek his assistance in defusing the volatile situation in Swat and Shangla districts.

Eight video and music shops were badly damaged by a powerful bomb blast at the Punjab Regimental Centre market in the Mardan district. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

November 23

Fifteen more people were killed in continuing clashes between the security forces (SFs) and militants in the Swat and Shangla districts. The residents said Pakistan Army's Cobra helicopters were seen in the air pounding militants' positions at Kotki, Dherai, Yakh Tangi, Ghorband and other remote small villages mostly situated on hilltops. Sources said militants vacated Alpuri, the district headquarters of Shangla, and took positions in the nearby mountains. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad disclosed that gunship choppers, artilleries and mortars targeted militants' hideouts in different places of Shangla, inflicting heavy losses on them.

The paramilitary Mahsud Scouts detained two injured Uzbek fighters clad in women’s dress at the Fiza Gat checkpoint in Swat.

November 25

Security forces claimed that they had killed 30 militants and captured two strategic mountain positions of militants and key routes to Imam Dehri in the Swat valley. Troops, backed by artillery and helicopter gun-ships, captured the key positions of Najia Top and Usmani Sar after shelling the Imam Dehri, Koza Banda and Bara Banda areas. According to a military press release, 30 militants had been killed in the operation since November 24-night. It further said that two soldiers had been killed and two others injured in the operation. There were also reports of some civilians killed by the artillery fire.

An unnamed commander of the Khan Khitab alias Baba group, which controlled the Matta sub-division, was reportedly killed.

The military said that security forces had cleared the area up to Imam Dheri and captured key mountain heights.

The militants’ spokesman Sirajuddin insisted that 25 soldiers were killed in the fighting and another 20 had been besieged near Mam Dheri, the village of Maulana Fazlullah, and the headquarters of his group.

The supply of food and daily-use items has reportedly been disrupted to the Swat, Upper Dir, Lower Dir and Chitral districts and Malakand Agency because the main approach road, Mardan-Malakand Road, had been blocked to all kinds of vehicular traffic since November 24-afternoon. Cellular-phone services have been jammed while landline telephones have gone collapsed in the Shangla, Swat and Battagram districts. A large number of people who wanted to move to safer areas from Swat, were reportedly stranded on the roadside, in fields and gas stations and other places on the Mingora-Malakand road. The government has been slow to set up camps for the displaced people at Barikot in Swat and far away in Risalpur in the Nowshera district, reports added.

November 26

Security forces (SFs) used artillery and gunship helicopters on pro-Taliban militants in the Swat valley, killing 40 militants, including two commanders, and losing four soldiers, said military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad. He said five more soldiers were injured in the operation. Arshad informed Daily Times that the hilltops had been cleared, while SFs were now advancing towards areas where the militants had taken refuge.

Militants' sources claimed 14 SF personnel were killed in fighting in the Najia hills, according to The News. They said they were still holding their positions in Mam Dherai, village of TNSM leader Maulana Fazlullah and headquarters of his group, and other nearby villages.

Three civilians, including a child, were killed and an unspecified number of them were injured in firing by the SFs. Villagers said a man was shot dead in the Kabal sub-division. In the second incident, one Karim and his unidentified younger brother were killed walking in the fields while on the way to Aligrama via Sarsenay village.

Five soldiers were injured when a military convoy was attacked in a roadside bomb blast triggered by remote-control near the Police Lines in Mingora city.

The Swat operation would be completed before elections, caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan told reporters in Islamabad.

A bomb exploded in the Government Girls Primary School in the village of Sher Bahadur near the provincial capital Peshawar, destroying the main gate, windows, doors and boundary wall of the school. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

November 27

After suffering huge losses, the militants in Swat vacated all the seized police stations and other government buildings and decided to go underground while the government closed down all the FM radio channels in the district, including the one run by TNSM leader Maulana Fazlullah.

In the adjoining Shangla district, the security forces (SFs) retook the main town Alpuri from the militants and forced them to retreat to the nearby mountains.

Military officials in Mingora said four militants were killed in clashes with the SFs.

Maulana Fazlullah directed, through his FM radio channel, his armed followers at around 11:45 pm to stop fighting and shift to safer places and wait for his other important message regarding the future line of action.

Owners of garment shops in capital Peshawar have either removed the mannequins used for displaying dresses or covered them with clothes after receiving threatening letters from militants.

November 28

Military authorities said they had evicted militants from most of the troubled areas in the Swat valley while all the displaced government officials returned to their jobs in Shangla district after the retreat of Maulana Fazlullah-led militants from their positions in the district headquarters of Alpuri. Major Amjad Iqbal, the military spokesman in Mingora, told reporters that the majority of militants were either killed or had escaped to the mountains after the security forces (SFs) targeted them in their hideouts. He said 230 militants had so far been killed in clashes with the SFs in the Swat and Shangla districts. He said most of the militants were killed in Shangla while their death toll in Swat was 56.

Maulana Muhammad Alam, a close aide of Maulana Fazlullah, made a speech from his mobile FM radio in which he denied that the militants had left their positions. He claimed that the real battle against the SFs had started now and would continue indefinitely.

Unidentified miscreants fired about six rockets at Police Lines in Tank in the early hours. The rockets, however, landed in a deserted area, and no casualties were reported.

November 29

At least 12 civilians were killed and 11 others wounded when helicopter gun-ships pounded the Allahabad village of Swat district. Police and residents said a two-year-old boy and his mother were among the dead, who otherwise were mostly males aged 16 to 22, AFP reported. However, military spokesperson Major Amjad Iqbal told Reuters that he had no information about civilian casualties in the village but confirmed that a clash had occurred there after militants fired rockets at troops.

Officials claimed to have arrested 20 militants, including a brother of TNSM leader Maulana Fazlullah. Frontier Corps personnel arrested Maulana Fazal Ahmed, the brother of Maulana Fazlullah, at the Ghaligai check-post, outside Mingora on the Peshawar-Swat road. Among the other 19 militants who were detained near Fizzagut was one Daud, who is said to be a nephew of Sirajuddin, the militants’ spokesman in Mingora. Official sources said that one of the detained militants was a would-be suicide bomber and he possessed a jacket meant for such attacks.

The district administration and police have reportedly started functioning in Alpuri, the headquarters of Shangla district, whereas security forces have been pounding some areas in the district to flush out militants.

A large number of militants attacked a forest check-post at Kalpani in Barawal, a town of Dir Upper District along the border with Afghanistan, and destroyed it completely. The assailants used rockets in the attack that were followed by indiscriminate firing that wounded two police officials, one each from the Upper and Lower Dir districts.

In the provincial capital Peshawar, a CD shop was damaged when a bomb exploded in Zargerabad while another explosive planted beside a CDs market in Mohallah Faisalabad was defused before it could explode. No loss of life or injuries was reported.

Security forces occupied two important mountain tops which had been recently vacated by militants in their stronghold of Matta sub-division in the Swat district. People in Pir Kalay said the militants had abandoned the posts a few days ago and retreated to the Puchaar area near the sub-division’s border with Dir district.

A Frontier Corps (FC) spokesperson in Swat said 22 militants had been arrested at the FC checkpoint at Ayub Bridge in Kanju, two each at Fizzagut and another two at Landaki. Among those arrested are Afghan national Waheedullah, who allegedly headed the propaganda wing of the militants; Maulana Ghaniur Rehman, a cleric of Imam Dehri in Swat; and Mohammad Iqbal, believed to be a financer of the militants.

The army destroyed a petrol and ammunitions depot used by militants in the Swat district with heavy artillery fire from helicopter gun-ships. Fuel supply to the militants has been suspended after the destruction of a key petrol station in the Kooz Shor area of Matta sub-division, said Amjad Iqbal, a military spokesman at the Swat Media Centre.

Security forces seized sophisticated weapons and explosives from a house in the Nangolai area of Kabal sub-division, said Iqbal. Troops have taken control of the area between Kanjoo and Baryam Chowk of Swat, he added. He informed that troops had set up check posts at Pir Kalay and Barymam Chowk - areas previously controlled by the militants.

Unidentified militants blew up a video shop situated on the Mardan-Malakand road. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. Earlier, unidentified men distributed pamphlets in residential areas of Mardan warning people to halt ‘un-Islamic’ businesses, or face consequences.

A CD shop and a barber shop were blown up in the Sheikh Mohammadzai area of provincial capital Peshawar. The owner of the CD shop, Daud Khan, told police that they had received threats from some people.

The Frontier Corps (FC) seized a huge quantity of arms in Swat in two separate raids. FC soldiers raided a girls’ school at Mingalai and a shop near the Mingora Airport on a tip-off and seized two suicide vests, six rocket launchers, 250 rocket shells, four drums of improvised explosive devices, 50 anti-personnel mines, one car, dozens of Kalashnikovs and bullets.

Security forces arrested 30 militants, including a commander. Among the detainees was militants' head in Khwazakhela, ‘Commander’ Liaqat.

In the first such attack of its kind, a female suicide bomber blew herself up in a high security zone in Peshawar. Except for the suicide bomber, who was said to be in her mid-30s, no other casualty was reported in the blast. Peshawar police chief Tanveerul Haq Sipra said the bomber blew herself up when she was stopped at a military check-post on the on Babar Road. Sipra said the woman’s belly was blown up while her chest, face and legs were intact. "From her body parts, we have confirmed the gender of the bomber. She seems to be an Afghan and around 34 years of age," he added.

December 6

Security forces captured Imam Dheri, headquarters of the pro-Taliban militant leader Maulana Fazlullah of the TNSM, and the Khwazkhela area in Swat district. The army also blew up the houses of Fazlullah and his spokesman Maulana Sirajuddin, besides seizing several weapons, computers and some bottles of liquor from the site. The liquor was believed to be seized at militants’ check-posts from people. A militant, however, denied that the liquor belonged to them and termed it ‘a drama’. "They are in control of that area and they can stage any drama they want. It has nothing to do with us," said Afsar Khan.

Two militants were killed in the Shakardara area near the Usmani Sar mountain. They were reported to be carrying a rocket-launcher and were planning an attack on the forces from the mountaintop.

Five CD and video shops were blown up at Chota Lahor in the Swabi district. Official sources informed that the blasts also damaged two other shops and adjacent buildings. A leaflet in Urdu distributed a few days ago asked shop-owners to close their businesses or face consequences.

Police in the provincial capital Peshawar arrested two persons, identified as Aman and Baz Mohammed, and recovered automatic weapons and ammunition from their possession. The arms and ammunition were apparently being smuggled to Punjab.

December 7

A policeman and a militant were killed and three policemen were injured when a check-post came under attack in the Charsadda district. Police sources said that about 15 militants had attacked the post, some 18 kilometres north of Charsadda city, at about 1am. Police subsequently returned fire, killing a militant.

Security forces arrested 22 militants from the Mingora and Matta areas of Swat district. Military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said that the militants were arrested while they were trying to flee from the area. He said those apprehended were accomplices of TNSM leader Maulana Fazlullah and were involved in subversive activities.

December 8

The Pakistan Army claimed that it has cleared almost all militants from Swat after killing 290 rebels and arresting another 143 in recent weeks. Major General Nasser Janjua said 20,000 troops backed by helicopter gun ships and artillery had driven the militants out of their strongholds in an ongoing military operation. "Fazlullah is still on the run with hardcore militants estimated to be between 200 to 400, including some foreigners," Janjua told reporters in Mingora.

A girls’ school was damaged in a bomb blast in Ahmed Shah village near the provincial capital Peshawar. Teachers and students of the Government Girls Middle School had earlier received several warning letters asking them to start wearing the veil.

Security forces arrested 24 suspected militants in the Kanjoo and Baryam Top areas, including a confidante of Maulana Fazlullah identified as Maulana Muhammad Esa.

December 9

Three police personnel and seven civilians, including two children, were killed and a child was wounded in a car bombing in the Swat district. The suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden jeep when he was stopped at the Ningolai check-post in Kabal sub-division at around 11.15am. According to a bomb disposal official, about 10kg to 15kg of explosives were used in the blast. "It was a suicide attack," said Swat Media Centre spokesman Major Amjad Iqbal.

Bodies of three people, abducted by militants loyal to Maulana Fazlullah some three months ago, was found in the Arkot area of Matta sub-division.

Security forces arrested four people, including Maulana Rasheed, a candidate for a National Assembly seat from Swat, on charges of having links with the militants. Maulana Rasheed was part of a team which had earlier negotiated with the government on behalf of Maulana Fazlullah in the past.

Two missiles landed near the runway of the Pakistan Air Force base in Peshawar. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

December 10

Five persons, including four of a family and a child, were killed and another child was injured when Army neutralised suspected militant hideouts with artillery in the Chaparyal and Venai areas of Swat district.

Provincial government spokesman Amjad Iqbal said that seven soldiers escaped from captivity after overpowering their Taliban guards.

Seven people, including a would-be suicide bomber, and one foreign national were detained in Kanjoo and Mingora.

Houses of Maulana Fazlullah’s aides, Akbar Hussain and Ishaq, were demolished by locals in the Kabal sub-division.

Major Amjad Iqbal, a spokesman of the government media centre in Mingora, disclosed that five militants having close links with Maulana Fazlullah of the TNSM were arrested – three from Kabal and two from Mingora.

December 11

Troops launched artillery attack on suspected militant hideouts near the Piochar and Loe Namal towns in the Swat district on December 10-night, killing 20 militants and injuring at least 15 others. "According to our information, 20 militants were killed while 10-15 were injured on Monday night," military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.

The army said in a statement that it detained a man in the Khwazakhela town for allegedly recruiting, training and harboring suicide bombers. It said the suspect was affiliated with the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). A cache of arms, bombs, fake passports and an FM radio transmitter were reportedly seized from his house.

Militants publicly executed an alleged outlaw, Dildar, wanted by the Kohat police in connection with two murder cases in Darra Adamkhel. Local Taliban chief Tariq claimed that the accused had ‘confessed’ to having killed six people for money and refused to leave the area. He had been captured on December 9.

Four CD and video shops were destroyed in separate bomb blasts in the Badha Bera Bazaar and adjoining areas of provincial capital Peshawar. No loss of life or injuries was reported. Owners of CD and video shops had recently received anonymous letters, asking them to close their business. The letters stated that selling of CDs was un-Islamic and it spread obscenity.

December 12

Troops killed 20 militants in an ongoing operation against supporters of Maulana Fazlullah of the TNSM in the Swat district. Troops targeted suspected hideouts of the militants in the valley’s Puchaar and Loee Namal towns. The operation, which commenced on December 11-night, continued the next day, in which 20 militants were killed, AFP reported. Provincial government spokesman Amjad Iqbal said that the troops "extensively engaged militant locations, which resulted in a number of militant casualties."

Troops shot dead a man and wounded two others for violating curfew restrictions in the Fizaghat town.

A woman was killed and two others sustained injuries in the shelling by security forces at Peochar, a militant stronghold, in the Swat district. However, officials refused to confirm or deny the shelling.

Security forces arrested 14 militants, including a close aide of Maulana Fazlullah, and continued to target militant strongholds in the Swat district. "Maulvi Bashir was among the 14 militants arrested. The arrests were made during search operations in Matta, Kanju and Fizaghat," said security officials.

A policeman was injured in a rocket attack in Bannu.

Maulana Fazlullah’s brother reportedly asked the TNSM chief to surrender. Fazle Ahad - who was arrested by security forces at the beginning of the military operation - said in a message aired on government-run radio: "Fighting the government is not in the interest of Pakistan and the nation. Therefore, militants have to lay down their weapons."

Taliban militants from tribal areas and some districts of the NWFP decided to set up a centralised organisation for a joint war against the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan and appointed Baitullah Mehsud as their Central Amir (chief), a spokesman for the militant commander told Dawn. The militants have named their movement as Tehrik Taliban-i-Pakistan and said the aim of the movement was to enforce Sharia (Islamic law) in their respective areas. The decision was taken at a meeting of 40 Taliban leaders, held in an undisclosed place in South Waziristan. "The sole objective of the Shura meeting was to unite the Taliban against NATO forces in Afghanistan and to wage a ‘defensive jihad’ against Pakistani forces here," Baitullah’s spokesman Maulana Omar said.

A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden bicycle into a military check-post, killing five persons and injuring 11 others in Nowshera. The District Police Officer Mubarak Zeb said that six people, including the suicide bomber, were killed as he detonated himself at the entrance of the Army Supply Corps centre.

Security forces arrested seven suspected militants from Kuza Banda village near Maulana Fazalullah’s native area of Imam Dehri, on December 15-night. The military stated that Abdul Shakoor, a cleric suspected of having issued decrees in support of beheading soldiers, and his four sons were among the seven persons detained. Mohammad, one of the sons of the cleric, was allegedly preparing for a suicide bombing mission and a jacket used for such attacks is reported to have been found in their possession.

At least 12 army recruits were killed and two wounded in a suicide attack near the Army Public College in the heart of the Kohat cantonment area. The recruits were returning to their barracks after the morning exercise when a boy aged 15 to 17 years rushed towards them and blew himself up. Ten recruits were killed on the spot and two others died later in hospital.

Three women were injured in a bomb blast outside the Frontier Constabulary’s (FC) headquarters in the Oghi sub-division of Mansehra district. Police said the bomb which damaged the wall of the FC headquarters had been planted near a house.

Suspected militants detonated two bombs that damaged the shrine of Abdul Shakoor Malang Baba situated in the limits of Chamkani Police station in provincial capital Peshawar. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

SFs recovered an explosive laden vehicle during a search operation against militants in the Swat valley.

Four security force (SF) personnel, including two captains, were reported missing from Kohat. A police officer told BBC that the two officers of fourteenth division, along with two soldiers, were going from Dera Ismail Khan to the provincial capital Peshawar, but they suddenly disappeared after entering Kohat. He said there was no contact with them since December 17-evening. They are believed to have been kidnapped by Taliban between Darra Adamkhel and Mattani. Their vehicle was also taken away.

Troops arrested two militants who are believed to be close associates of TNSM chief Maulana Fazlullah at Bariam check-post.

Militants lobbed a bomb at a police post on Ring Road in the precincts of Yakatoot Police Station, Yakatoot Police Station Moharir Watan Khan said, adding that there were no casualties.

Security forces (SFs) arrested eight suspected militants and targeted militant positions in the Puchar and Manjad areas of Swat district. SFs destroyed several militant hideouts and the eight people arrested from the Baryam Pul and Fizagat checkpoints were said to be close aides of the TNSM chief Maulana Fazlullah.

December 19

Suspected militants bombed an audio-cassettes shop in the Chamkani Police Station limits of Peshawar. The blast damaged the shop, but no casualties were reported.

December 20

An internet centre and two CD shops were blown up in various areas of Peshawar. According to police, the explosives had been planted inside the shops. An unnamed senior police official said the explosion left police with no other option but to force the owners of internet centres, snooker clubs, CD and video shops to close their businesses, which was not being tolerated by the Taliban.

December 21

In the Kohat district, armed Taliban militants intruded into the heavily guarded office of the Assistant Political Agent of Kohat, tied up his guards and some officers with ropes and looted cash and weapons. They also took away two vehicles.

December 23

The death toll in the suicide bombing at a mosque in the Sherpao town of Charsadda district on December 21 has reportedly increased to 60. Two Afghan refugees were among four suspects arrested in connection with the suicide attack. Security officials said the men, one of them a seminary student as well as a local prayer leader, were arrested in addition to two others detained earlier.

December 24

Several trenches were destroyed as several gunship helicopters pounded Taliban positions in the Bamakhela area of Matta tehsil (administrative division) in Swat. The Mingora Media Centre in-charge Colonel Nadeem said that the helicopters had targeted Taliban positions at Bamakhela. He, however, did not disclose the number of militant casualties.

December 25

Police defused an explosive device planted along the roadside at Kot village in the Charbag area.

December 26

In Dara Adamkhel, the local Taliban brought down billboards, posters and banners of all candidates for the NA-47, tribal territory-12 seat and warned of ‘dire consequences’ if these are put up again. The Taliban reportedly took the step on the directive of their ‘high command’, claiming that it was needed to prevent clashes among supporters of the candidates over sites for displaying election material. The NA-47, Dara Adamkhel constituency comprises parts of the Frontier Region Kohat, Peshawar, Bannu, Lakkai, Tank, and Frontier Region areas of Dera Ismail Khan.

December 27

Two police personnel sustained injuries when the vehicle they were traveling in was hit by a remote controlled explosive device in the Buner district.

December 28

The former Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) minister, Asfandyar Amirzaib and eight others were killed and several others injured in a roadside bomb explosion near the Manglore village of Swat district.

December 30

Unidentified assailants fired rockets at a police check-post in the Mardan district. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. Even as police opened retaliatory firing, the assailants managed to escape from the incident site.

December 31

The troops arrested eight militants, including one suspected suicide bomber, at Ayub Bridge and Fiza Ghat check post in Swat.