The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Islamabad

A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a police outpost Sunday, killing six people in an area where the military has been battling Islamic militants loyal to a fugitive cleric, an official said.

Four civilians - including two children - and two policemen died in the attack at the Nimgole post, said Amjad Iqbal, a spokesman for the military command center in Pakistan's Swat Valley. Several others were injured.

The outpost is near Imam Dheri, the headquarters of pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah that troops captured Thursday. "There's nothing we could say about the perpetrators before investigating, but involvement by remnants of Fazlullah's militants can't be ruled out," Iqbal said.

The attack occurred a day after the commander of military operations in Swat said insurgents in the area were on the run but remained dangerous.

Militants seized tracts of the Swat valley, a former tourist destination 100 miles from Islamabad, this summer, raising concern about the spread of Islamic militancy from the Pakistan-Afghan border.

Followers of Fazlullah had fended off security forces sent to reinforce the area's beleaguered police since July, but have been scattered by a major army operation launched last month.

Maj. Gen. Nasser Janjua said Saturday his 20,000-strong force has retaken all the towns seized by the militants, killing 290 of them and capturing 140, while driving a hard-core group of some 400-500 into the Piochar side valley.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani army has driven Islamic militants from all the towns in a scenic northern valley and killed 290 of the followers of a pro-Taliban cleric who has called for a holy war against the government, a general said Saturday.