The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Peshawar

Pakistani troops Wednesday killed more than 20 Islamist militants in the troubled northwestern Swat Valley, a military spokesman said.

A five-hour gunbattle erupted after fighters loyal to pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah attacked a checkpost in the town of Sarbanda, Major Mohammad Farooq told reporters.

The fighting came a day after rebels kidnapped 30 security officials in Swat, where a two-month-old peace deal between the militants and Pakistani authorities is under threat. "The fighting which broke out early this morning lasted four to five hours after which the militants fled, leaving behind 20 dead," Farooq said, adding that many rebels were wounded.

There were no casualties to Pakistani troops, he said.

Farooq said soldiers also flushed out militants from the main police station in Swat's Matta district after pounding their positions in heavy shelling overnight. The police station was seized by militants recently, he said.

The government signed a peace deal with the Swat militants in May and agreed to gradually pull out troops and introduce an Islamic justice system. In exchange, the rebels said they would halt attacks and surrender arms.

Taliban militants shot dead a woman in a Pakistani tribal area after accusing her of spying for US forces across the border in Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday.

The body of Gulzada Bibi, 30, was found dumped on open ground Wednesday 14 kilometres (eight miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in the restive North Waziristan district.

A note found near her body said Bibi was spying for the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, a Pakistani security official told AFP.

"She was killed while talking to her US contacts by satellite phone," the official quoted the note as saying.

Militants have killed several tribesmen in recent months, accusing them of spying for US-led forces across the border.

Pakistan has come under growing US pressure to clamp down on Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants using the tribal belt as a safe haven for launching attacks on international troops in Afghanistan.

The region was wracked by fighting in late 2007 and early 2008 as Fazlullah led a campaign, backed by suicide bombers, to enforce harsh Sharia law in the scenic region.

But violence has erupted again in the area in recent weeks, adding to US concerns about Islamabad's efforts to negotiate with hardliners based near the Afghan border.

Militants burned down Pakistan's only ski resort, located near near Swat, in June.