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Seven Taliban killed in Pakistan: police

AFP - Sunday, June 21

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - - At least seven Taliban militants were killed in a gunfight with local vigilantes in northwest Pakistan, police said.

A group of rebels fleeing towards northwestern Chitral district was intercepted by local vigilantes in the village of Patrak in Upper Dir district after which intense gunfight broke out, police chief Ejaz Ahmed told AFP.

"Seven militants were killed in the fighting," he said, adding that police had blocked possible escape routes out of the area to try and catch the fleeing insurgents.

Officials have said up to 1,000 Upper Dir villagers earlier this month formed a vigilante mob and stormed three villages where suspected Taliban were hiding out.

They killed six of them to avenge the bombing of a mosque in the village of Hayagai Sharqai in which 38 people died on June 5.

Upper Dir is near three northwest districts hit by the Pakistani military offensive aimed at crushing rebel fighters after they flouted a peace deal and thrust towards the capital Islamabad.

The offensive has the backing of the United States and enjoys broad popular support among Pakistanis exasperated by worsening Taliban-linked attacks, which have killed more than 1,960 people in the nuclear-armed country since July 2007.

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