13 militants held after girls’ school set ablaze in Swat

MINGORA, May 4: Security forces and police carried out a massive search operation and arrested 13 suspected militants after a girls’ high school was set on fire in the Charbagh area in Upper Swat on Sunday morning.

DSP of Matta Fazli Subhan Khan told Dawn that two of the detained men were ‘hardcore militants’. They were arrested for setting the girls’ school on fire.

No casualty was reported.

A bomb planted near the school was defused by the bomb disposal squad in the evening.

Meanwhile, one of the two bombs in an open area in Tall in Kabal tehsil exploded on Sunday night. The other bomb could not be defused because of darkness. It would be defused on Monday morning.

On Saturday, militants blew up three CD shops in the Shaukat Khan Market in Kabal. Another 14 shops were partially damaged.

Several areas in Swat are experiencing a resurgence in militant activities after a brief lull. People in Swat and Malakand fear that the situation might deteriorate although it was hoped that violence would end with the release of the chief of the outlawed Tekrik Nifaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM) following an understanding reached between the ANP-led provincial government and a local militant group.
Source: Dawn
Date:5/5/2008