7 FC men abducted

Unknown armed men abducted seven personnel of Frontier Constabulary in Swat, reported a private TV channel, quoting its sources on Monday. The FC men were trying to cross a mountain when armed men approached them. They made the FC men hostage and took them to some unknown location. Nobody has ,however, accepted responsibility for the incident. The authorities cordoned off the area and started search drive to recover the abductees. Agencies add: Jets and helicopter gunships continued to pound Taliban hideouts in Orakzai Agency for the second consecutive day Monday, killing 17 more militants and wounding 27 others The death toll in the security forces operation in the tribal agency reached 30. Taliban hideouts have also been destroyed in the gunship strikes. At least 17 more persons were killed in the security forces operation in Orakzai tribal agency on Monday morning. Aircraft attacked three camps of Pakistani Taliban commander Maulvi Hakimullah Mehsud in the Agency, 170km west of Islamabad, on Sunday, residents and a military official said. A Taliban spokesman told CNN that Talibans commander Mauli Hakimullah escaped unhurt after an airstrike in the countrys turbulent border region Sunday left 16 Taliban dead. Pakistan Army spokesman Qari Muhammad said Maulvi Hakimullah was the intended target of the attack. A Pakistani intelligence official also confirmed the target was Hakimullah Mehsud. Meanwhile, a resurgent Taliban in the Swat Valley on Monday vowed to enforce Islamic laws across the country while ruling out the possibility of laying down arms conditionally, following the implementation of Sharia in the region. The Sharia or Islamic law regime approved recently by President Asif Ali Zardari will not be confined to Malakand division, which includes Swat, and the Taliban want the system to be enforced in other parts of Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Taliban Swat spokesman Haji Muslim Khan said on Monday. (Sharia) is not only for Malakand division, it is for all humanity, for all Muslims. So we will go for implementation of the Holy Quran, Sharia-e-Muhammadi, not only in Malakand Division, but other parts of Pakistan as well, Muslim Khan told a private TV channel. He said in the presence of the US, there is no chance of peace in the region as it came from thousands of miles away and killing innocent Muslims here. He indicated that the Taliban would lay down arms only if the Islamic courts in Swat asked them to do so. If the Sharia regulation will call (on) us that you Taliban keep your arms, we will keep (them). If the order from Qazi courts is no, we will say no, he said. The Taliban spokesman questioned why no one was asking for the disarming of 'the United States forces who were allegedly killing Muslims in Pakistan. We are Muslims. If somebody is coming to kill my brother, we will stay... in Afghanistan and the Pashtun areas. You are asking me to lay down my arms and nobody (is) asking the Americans. Why? he asked. Responding to a question on Nizam-e-Adl, Haji Muslim Khan categorically rejected worlds concerns in this regard, adding that the success of Muslims lies in its complete implementation and struggle for Islamic system would be continued. We dont care about the reaction of the government in Pakistan, other foreigners and the international community. We dont care (about) that, he asserted. He also said the Pakistani Taliban wanted all Muslims to work for the creation of a 'caliphate comprising all Islamic nations. The Taliban spokesman asked all Muslims to forge unity in their ranks, adding that 52 states of the US have same currency and 56 Muslim countries should also be united. Asked if he had a message for Muslims, he replied, For Muslims, it is necessary to come and establish a caliphate, one army, one Shariah-e-Muhammadi, one currency and make unity. Meanwhile, security forces shelling Taliban attackers in a militant stronghold near the Afghan border killed at least three civilians, officials said Monday. The Sunday night clashes occurred in the vicinity of Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal region. A Taliban compound in the same area was targeted by a US missile strike on Sunday that a government official said killed three people.

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