Swat Taliban paying mercenaries ‘blood money’ to “behead” policemen

October 8th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security forces have found blood transfusion and reprocessing plants during clearance operations of the Taliban hideouts in Swat and Malakand Divisions. Besides the blood transfusion plant, a huge amount of American, Indian and Russian made weapons and currency were also found during the raid, The Online news reported.

September 22nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security forces have nabbed a top commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Shura Nasim alias Abu Faraj from the Charbagh region in Swat. Sources said Faraj masterminded several suicide attacks which have rocked Pakistan in the recent past.

September 20th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Taliban commander Sher Mohammad Qasab, who carried a Rs.10 million bounty and was arrested from the Swat Valley, has died, authorities said Sunday. Qasab was critically injured during the Swat operation and he succumbed to his injuries, Geo TV reported.

September 17th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan security forces have arrested one of the most wanted and dreaded Taliban commanders, Sher Mohammad Qasab, along with 16 other extremists from the Swat Valley. Qasab, who is said to have been running a slaughter house, was nabbed after a fierce gun battle between the Taliban and troops.

August 9th, 2009 SWAT - The Swat education department has said that the Taliban has destroyed 238 out of 1,576 schools affecting more than 56,250 students in the province. The department has demanded a grant of 2,203 million rupees from the provincial government, for the reconstruction of more than 238 school destroyed by the Taliban, The Dawn reports.

July 7th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Prime Minister's advisor on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik has said that the major Taliban leadership has been wiped out from Swat. Talking to media persons here, Malik claimed that the military offensive being carried out in the North West Frontier Province's (NWFP) Swat and Malakand Divisions have been successful with top commanders of the Taliban killed.

June 27th, 2009 KANDAHAR - Taliban militants killed eight policemen in an overnight assault on a police post in southern Afghan province of Helmand, an official said Saturday. A group of Taliban militants raided a police post north of Lashkar Gha, capital of Helmand, late Friday night killing eight policemen, provincial administration spokesman Daud Ahmadi said.

June 5th, 2009 RAWALPINDI - Pakistan's Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani has said that the military had "decisively turned the tide" against the Taliban in Swat and adjoining districts. "The tide in Swat has decisively turned and major population centres and roads leading to the valley have been largely cleared of organised resistance by the Taliban," said General Kayani while addressing the 119th Corps Commanders' Conference at General Headquarters.

May 26th, 2009 LONDON - The Pakistan Army has claimed that its mission against the Taliban and other extremist groups in the Swat Valley is near accomplishment, as the Taliban has virtually announced a one-sided ceasefire. With the Army intensifying its operation in Mingora and other parts of the Valley, and engaging in severe street fighting, the Taliban has suffered a series of setbacks over the past week.

May 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Large numbers of policemen have reportedly deserted Buner while over 40 percent are staying off duty in Swat after the situation deteriorated in Malakand division where the army is now battling the Taliban. "Almost 75 percent desertion has been reported in Buner district police force," The News International reported Tuesday.

May 4th, 2009 PESHAWAR - The money earned from mining and selling gemstones in Swat and Shangla district of Pakistan is used by the Taliban for terrorism, according to local entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs in a Gem Bazaar, organised by the Pakistan Gems and Jewellery Development Company at Namak Mandi, said that the Taliban were using the money for terrorist activities in Swat, Buner and Dir districts of Malakand division.

April 28th, 2009 LAHORE - A campaign is already afoot to boycott the purchase of Swat's famous emeralds, because the money could be used to buy mortars, roadside bombs and suicide belts for the Taliban. The "blood emeralds" have joined the Afghan opium as a source of Taliban lucre.

April 26th, 2009 Pakistani official warns Taliban must disarmISLAMABAD — Pakistan's top civilian security official says the Taliban in the northwest's Swat Valley must disarm or "face action." Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik made the comments Sunday after the military began an offensive against insurgents in a district next to Swat. The government agreed to a peace deal with the Swat militants earlier this year.

April 25th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Taliban stopped a convoy of security forces from entering their stronghold in Swat Valley on Saturday. A News Network International (NNI) news agency report said seven army trucks were stopped by armed Taliban at Qamabr, a small town of Mingora, the main city in the Swat Valley of North West Frontier Province.

February 22nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Taliban militants Saturday agreed to a 'permanent ceasefire' in the country's northwestern Swat Valley, officials said.