BUNER, April 28 At least 60 personnel of police and the Frontier Consta-bulary were taken hostage by Taliban in Pir Baba area as security forces, backed by helicopter gunships and jet fighters, launched an operation in Buner on Tuesday and pounded suspected hideouts of militants in some border areas of the district.

A convoy of security personnel entered Buner from Mardan after imposition of curfew.

Security forces set up a checkpoint on a road at Babajee Kandow, around six kilometres into Buner.

Militants took control of the Pir Baba area, including a police station, and took hostage 43 personnel of the Frontier Constabulary and 17 policemen. The SHO of the police station, Bukht Raj, was among the hostages.

Two policemen who were out of the police station at the time of the attack told Dawn that militants had set up their headquarters at a mosque adjacent to the shrine of Pir Baba and the hostages were taken there.

Official sources said the operation had been launched to flush out Taliban who had entered Buner on April 4 from Swat. They took control of the district a week later.

Following negotiations led by Sufi Mohammad, chief of the banned TNSM, militants had agreed on April 24 that outsiders would pull out and only local Taliban would stay in Buner.

However, officials believed that the militants had backed out of their commitment and they were present in Buner in a large number.

Planes and helicopters attacked suspected hideouts of militants in Kalil Kandow, Rajgalai, Speerkee, Balookhan, Karakar, Naveedand, Sar Malang Baba, Baba Jee Kandow and Maskeepur Ambela. The attacks started at about 12.30pm.

Most of the areas are along Buner's border with Mardan, Malakand and Swat.

An official said the district headquarters hospital in Daggar had not received any body or injured person till late into the night.

According to witnesses, militants fired at helicopters with heavy machineguns.

Soldiers of the Frontier Corps entered the district through Ambela Pass along with Frontier Constabulary personnel amid shelling and launched a search in the mountainous region of Baba Jee Kandow.

A large number of Taliban who had taken control of the bazaar at Pir Baba forced people to stay indoors.

Witnesses saw Taliban load a pick-up truck with weapons outside the police station.

Amidst a tense situation, people prepared to leave areas where Taliban were present.

District police chief Abdur Rashed Khan said curfew had been imposed in Buner for an indefinite period.

Haleem Asad adds from Timergara Security forces continued their operation in Maidan area of Lower Dir district.

Militants snatched a vehicle of the National Logistics Cell and took eight employees hostage, sources said.

Despite heavy artillery shelling, they continued patrolling Gulabad area of Adenzai tehsil.

A militant 'commander', Arshad, said the hostages would be freed only if the company handed two more vehicles to Taliban. He said Taliban would not stop their activities in Adenzai until the military operation was stopped.

A heavy exodus of people continued from villages of Maidan towards Odigaram and Sar Lara Samar Bagh on Tuesday.

Hundreds of families crossed the Odigaram Bridge and Sar Lara hilltop.

The displaced people were facing problems because of lack of transport, food and shelter and they had no idea where to go.

However, a military officer claimed that security forces had gained complete control over Maidan tehsil. He said militants had been involved in kidnappings, target killings and other crimes.

Talking to journalists by phone, a militant commander, Hafeezullah, threatened to attack all leaders of the ruling Awami National Party and Pakistan People's Party if the government did not end the operation by Wednesday.

He claimed that local Taliban leader Maulvi Shahid was alive and he would soon appear before the media. Refuting the government's claims about Taliban casualties, he said only four of his colleagues had been killed.

He said security forces had again attacked Maulvi Shahid's house on Tuesday, but he was not home.

Locals said two villagers killed by shelling on Monday, cab driver Fazal Malik of Kotkay and Manda Akbar Khan of Dokrai, were buried in the night. They alleged several schools were damaged when security forces shelled the area.