Pakistani attack helicopters have shelled militant hideouts in the northwestern Swat district, killing 30 rebels, following an early suicide attack that killed 14 police cadets, the military said Sunday. The helicopter operation that began Saturday evening in different parts of the Swat town of Charbagh continued Sunday with participation of ground troops. “The attack helicopters shelled militant hideouts during the operation, killing 30 rebels,” the military said in a statement. One soldier was killed in the operation. Separately, a suicide attack in the main town in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley Sunday killed 14 police cadets, an attack that Swat police chief Qazi Ghulam Farooq blamed on Taleban militants. The suicide bomber entered the police training ground and blew himself up near the recruits. It indicated the Taleban is still able to sow destruction and fear even though their hardline rule in the valley is over. Members of a new community police force were training to patrol the region when the attacker sneaked up and detonated his explosives, provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told Geo TV by telephone. Television footage showed officers gathering up mutilated bodies outside the police station, which had already been bombed twice before in recent months. At least 14 bodies of police volunteers in uniform were brought to the local hospital and eight wounded recruits were being treated, hospital official Ikram Khan told the AP. Local police chief Idrees Khan said at least 20 were wounded and a dozen killed. Khan denied rumors that the attacker was in uniform and might have been one of the police volunteers. “No, we don't have any such report, but yes, a suicide bomber sneaked into the training for recruits,” he told reporters at the scene in footage broadcast on local television. He blamed the attack on a decision to relax a daily curfew in the area for Ramadan. “We are reinforcing security,” he said. Pakistan in April launched a punishing offensive against the Taleban in the northwest, targeting the rebels in the districts of Swat, Buner and Lower Dir after the militants advanced closer to the capital Islamabad. The military push forced 1.9 million civilians from their homes. most seeking refuge with relatives and the rest crowding into refugee camps, creating a humanitarian crisis for Pakistan. Last month, Prime Minister Yousof Raza Gilani said the army had “eliminated” extremists in the northwest.
