Pakistan claims 50 Taliban slain in raids

SWAT VALLEY, Pakistan, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Pakistani soldiers, responding to an earlier powerful suicide bomb blast, pounded Taliban positions in the Swat Valley, killing 50 militants, officials say.

The initial blast shook the village of Charbagh Saturday when an explosives-laden jeep rammed into the local police station, killing four policemen and injuring 20 others. The government responded, killing with the Taliban's top commanders along with foreign fighters in the restive North West Frontier province region, Pakistan Dawn reported Sunday.

The offensive left 10 army soldiers dead and seven others injured, officials said. An army spokesman told the newspaper that several militant hideouts, including the Taliban's command and control center in the village of Kabal, were destroyed. He vowed to continue the operation until the government's writ is restored in the lawless valley.

Taliban Spokesman Muslim Khan told Dawn the militant group had carried out the Charbagh suicide attack in reaction to the killing of 14 militants in Doaba, Hangu.

"It is only a beginning and more attacks will come if the operation is not stopped in Swat," he said.