Pakistan imposed a round-the-clock curfew in a restive mountain valley in the northwest on Wednesday as the army claimed more than 20 militants died in clashes with security forces.
The army spokesman's office said the curfew was declared indefinitely throughout the Swat Valley — a day after pro-Taliban militants there abducted at least 25 police and paramilitary troops.
Clashes Tuesday also left two troops and two militants dead.
The rising violence could herald an end to a May peace deal between the provincial government and a militant cleric, Mullah Fazlullah, whose supporters last year took control of tracts of the valley before an army operation drove them out.
Fazlullah has threatened attacks on the government of North West Frontier Province, where Swat is located, accusing it of not honoring the May peace accord.
In violence Wednesday, security forces clashed with militants in Sar Banda, about 12 miles from Mingora, the main town in Swat, a local army spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity.
The spokesman said the fighting broke out after Taliban fighters attacked a post manned by army and paramilitary forces. He said the militants were repulsed and they left the bodies of between 20 and 25 dead fighters.
It was not immediately possible to get independent confirmation of the casualty toll, or comment from a militant spokesman.
Also Wednesday, militants burned a girls school in Gul Bagh village and set off explosives in a government-run hotel and a private rest house, damaging the two buildings, police officer Ismail Khan said.
Swat was once a popular tourist destination, famed for its pristine mountain scenery. It is also home to Pakistan's only ski resort, where the government hotel, currently unused, was attacked.
Pakistan is facing increasing pressure to take more military action against Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants in large parts of its volatile northwest along the border with Afghanistan.
The military action comes two days after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met President Bush at the White House. Bush praised Pakistan as a close ally in the war against terrorism.
