SWAT, Feb 9: Security forces on Saturday launched a massive search operation, arresting 16 of the militants said to be loyal to radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah and forcing them to flee Kabal tehsil, their last stronghold in Swat Valley.

This was the first time police and troops of the Frontier Corps entered Deulai, Thootano Bandai, Shah Dheri, Kala Kalley and Monja areas since the start of the operation in Swat. During the joint operation, officials said, a huge cache of arms and ammunition was seized.

“Militants are on the run now in the length and breadth of Swat Valley. The troops are encountering no resistance,” an official claimed.

Militants, he added, might have fled to the snow-clad mountains overlooking the district or sneaked into settled areas in Swat and adjoining districts.

In Deulai and Kala Kalley, the police in collaboration with the security forces regained control of their abandoned checkposts. The police personnel redeployed there had started their routine work to establish the writ of the government in the area.

A military base was also set up in Deulai to monitor militants’ activity in the area. Troops are consolidating their positions at sensitive locations for possible future action.

A 60 kilograms of explosives dumped in a field was recovered in the Aligrama area in Kabal tehsil. Security force men later detonated it.

Security forces arrested three suspected militants at the Sangota checkpost. Another militant was apprehended from Fizaghat, a tourist spot in the valley.

Curfew, except in areas extending from Kanju Fort to Kabal and from Kabal to Shah Dheri, was relaxed in other areas in Swat district from 6 am to 8 pm. The life has returned to normal in the whole of the Swat valley except for a few union councils.

Thousands of people in Matta, comprising 13 union councils, have appealed to the government to reopen the Matta tehsil hospital for patients and ensure security to doctors and other hospital staff.

They said that security forces took control of the hospital last month but the hospital was still without staff. People said that in the absence of medical facilities in their area, they had to go to hospitals in Mingora.