Pakistan said Friday it arrested the chief spokesman and a commander of Taliban militants in Swat, capturing the first most-wanted ring leaders behind a devastating two-year insurgency.
The spokesman Muslim Khan and four other Taliban leaders were arrested from Swat "in a successful operation," the military spokesman Mj. Gen. Athar Abbas said.
But local news reports quoted a Taliban member as saying some of the men had been engaged in secret negotiations with the government when they were arrested.
While the commander of the Taliban in Swat, Fazlullah, avoided interviews and television cameras, Khan became the public face of the Taliban in Swat.
The army launched an offensive in the Swat valley and adjoining districts of North West Frontier Province in late April after Taliban fighters began expanding their influence nearer to Islamabad.
Military officials say more than 2,000 insurgents and over 300 soldiers have been killed in the operation, which has moved into its final stages.
The show of force in Swat has helped allay fears among Western allies that the nuclear-armed Muslim nation was failing to confront spreading Islamist militancy.
Security forces have cleared much of the region, but there are still some pockets of resistance.
Bounty on Taliban heads
The country posted a reward of 50 million rupees (more than $600,000) for Fazlullah and offered rewards for 15 of his top lieutenants last May, but Friday marked the first announcement of any arrests from the list.
"Muslim Khan and Mahmood Khan with head money of 10 million rupees ($120,482) have been arrested by security forces in a successful operation in Swat," military spokesman Athar Abbas said in a statement released in English.
Muslin Khan was second on the most-wanted list behind Fazlullah. He earned notoriety as the hard-line Taliban spokesman in Swat but was largely impossible to reach after the military launched its summer ground and air assault.
Mahmood Khan was number four on the most-wanted list, described as commander of Kuza Banda in northern Swat and, like the spokesman, had a 10-million-rupee price on his head.
"Along with them, three other terrorist leaders Fazle Ghaffar, Abdul Rehman and Sartaj have been also been apprehended," the military statement said. There was no known bounty money for the three.
Pakistan concentrated its military operation in Swat and neighboring districts Buner and Lower Dir after Taliban gunmen advanced to within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of Islamabad last April in defiance of a peace deal.
The offensive forced 1.9 million civilians from their homes, creating a humanitarian crisis for impoverished Pakistan as they sheltered with relatives and crowded into refugee camps.
The United Nations said this week that 1.65 million Pakistanis have since returned home. The government has sponsored the displaced to return to areas commanders say are now safe.
But skirmishes continue, raising fears that the Taliban are regrouping in the mountains, a tactic militants adopted after previous offensives.
Fourteen police cadets were killed late August in a suicide attack in Mingora, the main town in Swat, which police blamed on Taliban militants.