Taliban leaders said to meet in Pakistan

MINGORA, Pakistan, July 20 (UPI) -- Fifty commanders of a Taliban chapter in Pakistan spent two days going over their strategy to combat the government, a spokesman said.

Muslim Khan told the English-language Pakistani newspaper Dawn the military leaders of the Swat district of Pakistnof Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan met at an undisclosed location Friday and Saturday to discuss their "war strategy" should government security forces launch an operation in the northwest district.

Local Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah presided over the conclave, Khan said in a telephone interview.

The Taliban official rejected the provincial government's claim that a would-be suicide bomber had been arrested in Swat. He said the detainee was a "mentally retarded" youth who "has nothing to do with (the) Taliban movement."