Militants target Swat valley in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- An undetermined number of Pakistani troops have been killed as a result of a suspected suicide attack in the Swat valley in northwestern Afghanistan.

Most of the victims in the Thursday attack were soldiers sent to restore security to the area, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Violence has been a common feature in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, but the recent surge of violence in Swat shows it has become another front in the nation's war with extremists, the newspaper said.

The attack coincided with the dispatch of more than 2,000 paramilitary troops, largely to contain local cleric Maulana Fazlullah, described as a Taliban supporter, and his Islamic brigade followers.

The Post reported Fazlullah uses an illegal FM radio signal to air his messages.

In a recent interview, Fazlullah was quoted as saying, “Suicide bombing is a message through which the Muslim youth convey that they can use even their bones and flesh as bullets to strike the infidels' skulls.”

Tourism, the economic mainstay in the Swat valley, has been hit because of the confrontation between Fazlullah and the government, the report said.

Last week, at least 137 people died in bomb blasts in southern Karachi during the homecoming of former Prime Benazir Bhutto.