Swat valley Paki

Which Matta,?

Ground forces entered Matta and Kanju towns 

in the scenic Swat valley, a bastion of firebrand Taliban commander Maulana Fazlullah who is behind a nearly two-year uprising that has devastated the area, security officials said.

Swat

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Imran Khan, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Peshawar, said: "It goes to show how dangerous the situation is, not only in the areas where the Taliban is being fought, but across Pakistan.

"We have talked to civilians and military and political analysts and their biggest fear has always been the aftermath if the army went into Swat valley - obviously that [army assault] has happened [in Swat].

"The big fear was a wave of [retaliatory] suicide bombings."

A military official earlier said that helicopter gunships and fighter jets had shelled militant hideouts in Peochar, Shamozai and Khwaza Khela areas of Swat, a district in the NWFP.

The assaults by the military came hours after it relaxed a curfew to allow civilians to leave their homes in Mingora, a Taliban-occupied town in Swat.

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