Pak vs Taliban

Now Pakistan has started a war with Taliban .

Pakistan's military is battling extremists loyal to radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah who have launched a violent campaign to introduce Islamic Sharia law.

The authorities placed several towns under indefinite curfew late Sunday and issued a warning that "anybody violating the curfew will be shot at sight."

The move came after Fazlullah, in a speech over his FM radio station, released the names of 40 people including ministers, MPs and local government officials "wanted" by the Taliban.

Troops shot dead a civilian for violating the curfew in Chaharbagh town, a police official said.

Three others, including a woman, were killed when security forces pounded suspected militant hideouts in the same area, the official said, requesting anonymity.

A military spokesman confirmed that an anti-militant operation was underway in the northwestern valley.

"Troops launched an operation against miscreants in Chaharbagh and Manglore areas and (are) targeting their hideouts with artillery, mortars and small arms," major Nasir Khan said.

In his radio speech, Fazlullah said: "These people encouraged military operations in the area and are responsible for the killings of Taliban and civilians," adding that they would be tried in Taliban courts.

Authorities downplayed the threat. "The government will not bow before these miscreants," provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told AFP.

Militants meanwhile blew up a boys school on the outskirts of the valley's main town of Mingora and also attacked a girls school in the city, security officials said, adding that "troops repulsed the attack."

Swat, once a popular destination for Pakistani and foreign holidaymakers, has descended into chaos in recent months, with pitched battles between militants and security forces.

Meanwhile, paramilitary troops were deployed on the streets of Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta Monday to quell violent protests against the killing of a Shia Muslim politician, police said.

Gunmen riding on a motorbike shot dead Ghulam Hassan Yousufi, a prominent Shia figure, in an attack claimed by a banned Sunni extremist group.

"The Frontier Corps (FC) has been called to assist local police control the law and order situation," senior police official Wazir Khan Nasir told AFP.

He said police were questioning at least 18 people arrested for suspected links to the assassins.