[Dawn] The army said Tuesday that its troops had killed an alleged Taliban commander and explosives expert during a search operation in the northwestern Swat valley."Security forces conducted a search operation near Charbagh and killed Abu Zar, a wanted terrorist commander," a military statement said, calling him an explosives expert who planned attacks against security forces.
"Two other terrorists were also apprehended with a cache of arms and ammunition," the statement added.
A senior security official in the area said Abu Zar was a "great symbol of terror" in Swat, and had killed a number of policemen and army personnel.
The military says it has quelled a militant uprising in Swat, which slipped out of government control in July 2007 after radical cleric Mullah Fazlullah mounted a violent campaign to enforce sharia law.
The army launched an offensive in April and says more than 2,150 militants have been killed in Swat and the neighbouring Buner and Lower Dir districts. It said in July that most of the insurgent bastions had been wiped out.
But sporadic clashes and suicide attacks continue to rock the valley.
Although Fazlullah remains at large, a number of his lieutenants have been killed or arrested, including Abu Zar's uncle Sher Mohammad Qasab, who died in September in military custody.
Qasab, dubbed "head of the Taliban beheading squad" by Pakistani media, was one of the most senior commanders on a list of 16 wanted militant leaders in Swat who had a 10 million rupee (120,000 dollar) price on his head.
Pakistan has posted a reward of 50 million rupees (more than 600,000 dollars) for Fazlullah.
The military is now engaged in an offensive in the northwest tribal belt along the Afghan border, where the core Taliban leadership and Al-Qaeda-linked militants are holed up in the rugged mountain terrain.