Taliban 'withdraw from contested district'

A Pakistani official said Taliban militants have completed their pullback from a northwestern district they seized earlier this month.

Syed Mohammad Javed, a senior official for Pakistan’s Swat Valley and surrounding areas, also said today that paramilitary troops have deployed across the Buner district vacated by the militants.

Taliban gunmen began withdrawing from Buner into Swat yesterday after the government warned that it would force them out.

The militant advance had raised concern that Islamist extremists were spreading toward major cities including the capital, Islamabad, and that a peace deal in Swat had emboldened hardliners.