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| Taleban kidnap Pakistani troops | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Taleban fighters have kidnapped 30 Pakistani policemen and troops in the restive Swat valley in the north-west, police say. | |
| Thousands of militants laid siege to the police station, just south of the valley's main town Mingora, on Tuesday. | |
| Troops were mobilised to break the militants' cordon but could not rescue the surrounded policemen and soldiers as darkness fell, officials said. | |
| Swat valley has been the scene of a major battle since Saturday. | Swat valley has been the scene of a major battle since Saturday. |
| The clash is the latest in an operation against an increasingly powerful Taleban insurgency in the valley. | The clash is the latest in an operation against an increasingly powerful Taleban insurgency in the valley. |
| Dead-end roads | |
| The insurgents attacked the security post in Shamozai village, police said. | |
| They blew up the post and abducted the security men, who were then moved to an undisclosed location. | |
| Roads which lead west, north and east of Mingora mostly connect areas of tourist interest and end in remote mountain valleys. | |
| All have been virtually closed for regular traffic since 2007. | |
| Only local people use these roads, but traffic is often disrupted or caught in crossfire. | |
| The only road that has remained fully open is to the south, connecting Mingora with the rest of the country. | |
| This is the region's main trading artery and strategically important to the security forces. | |
| In the past, incidents of traffic disruption on this road have been rare. | |
| But since last week, militants have repeatedly closed this road, forcing the army to impose curfew in the area, the BBC's M Ilyas Khan reports from Islamabad. | |
| This means that Mingora is under virtual siege from all four sides. | |
| Meanwhile, an army spokesman in Mingora said the security forces had consolidated their positions in the Sangota and Manglawar areas to the north, after two days of fierce battles. | |
| He said there were still some pockets of resistance in the area, but fighting had largely died down. | |
| Over the weekend, the army said it had captured high ground in Charbagh area and neutralised a strategic advantage the militants enjoyed earlier. | |
| Fighting continues unabated in Kabal and Matta sub-districts of Swat. |