Pakistan secures militant area in Khyber region

Security forces have secured an area in Pakistan's Khyber region, through which a main supply route passes into Afghanistan, a day after launching an offensive to push back militants threatening Peshawar.

The offensive is the first major military action the new government has launched against militants since it took power after February elections, and comes after growing alarm about the consolidation and spread of militant influence in the northwest. "The situation is under control. We have destroyed at least three militant hideouts and Frontier Corps soldiers are patrolling and controlling the area," said a senior government official, who declined to be identified.

The Khyber region is home to the Khyber Pass through which vital supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan pass, though the offensive is to the south and traffic from Peshawar to the border had not been affected, the official said.

The region had been virtually free of militant violence until this year but security has deteriorated in recent months as Islamist militants ganged up with the criminals. Major-General Alam Khattack said his forces had fired mortar bombs at militants and later blew up several of their positions, including the house of militant commander, Mangal Bagh. Roads in and out of Bara have been closed and a curfew imposed.

In recent weeks, Islamist vigilantes loyal to Mr Bagh have been roaming into Peshawar neighbourhoods. Riding pick-up trucks, fighters wielding Kalashnikovs threatened music and video shop owners, and ordered barbers to stop shaving men's beards.