Pakistani security forces say they have reached a cease-fire with pro-Taliban militants in the northwestern Swat valley, after three days of fierce fighting which the army says left up to 60 militants dead.
The militants -- supporters of a radical cleric pushing for strict Islamic law in the area -- called for the truce to recover their dead and wounded. On Sunday, security forces backed by helicopter gunships killed at least ten militants. It is unclear if any soldiers died in the fighting.
The violence in Swat was triggered last Thursday when a suspected suicide bombing against a military convoy killed at least 30 people, mostly soldiers. Pakistani authorities had sent more than two-thousand soldiers to the area on Wednesday to counter growing militancy by supporters of the cleric Maulana Fazlullah.