Swat, Sept 6(ANI): Clashes between Pakistani security forces and suspected militants have erupted in Swat's Bishban area at a time when the region seemed to have returned to 'normal', a Pakistani newspaper has said.
According to Swat media spokesperson Colonel Arif Mahmood, a search operation by security forces has been underway for the past five days after receiving reports of militants in the area, The Express Tribune reports.
In fresh encounters with militants echoing the 2009 Swat military operation, security forces, assisted by a local lashkar, killed one militant, while one member of security forces was also killed and two people from the local defence committee were critically injured.
The search operation against militants has entered its fifth day, and security forces have now imposed a curfew in the area, the report said.
Earlier, in accordance with the supposed return of harmony to the region, the army had, perhaps prematurely, organised a 20-day-long 'Peace festival' in June, the report noted.
Area Commander Brigadier Salman Akbar, who inaugurated the festival, had stated that the celebrations indicated that 'normalcy' had returned to the valley.
In April, Peshawar Corps Commander Lieutenant-General Asif Yasin Malik had announced that the security situation in Swat had improved drastically.
The 'peace' that appeared to have returned to the region followed a massive counter-insurgency operation carried out by the military in May 2009, known as Operation Rah-e-Rast, which was hailed as one of the most successful army operations Pakistan had seen in its history. (ANI)
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