Militant commander Akbar Hussain, who is in charge of the Kabal area in Swat valley, said the soldiers were travelling in an army vehicle when they were “intercepted” at a checkpoint and taken hostage.
He said a major and a captain are among the personnel being held.

Over 200 people have been killed in fierce fighting between radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah’s men and paramilitary forces in Swat since late October when the federal government rushed thousands of troops to the scenic valley to quell the activities of the cleric.

‘Secret file’

Hussain said a “secret file” and a map marking militant positions was seized from the soldiers and they had been taken to Imamdheri, the headquarters of Fazalullah’s group.

The soldiers, who were in plainclothes, were going from Chakdarra camp to Kabal when the militants signalled them to stop but the driver sped away.

However, the vehicle was stopped at the next checkpoint and the soldiers were asked to surrender, Dawn newspaper reported.

The army too is deployed in the area but is not directly involved in operations against the rebels.

Statues desecrated

In a repeat of the horrendous vandalism that destroyed the Bamiyan Buddha statues in Afghanistan in 2001, militants in Swat valley have destroyed one of the oldest and most important Buddhist sculptures, second in importance in South Asia.

Despite repeated requests by Pakistani archaeologists to the local authorities to protect the seated Buddha and other sites, especially after the first attack, no action was taken.

“In fact, militants were able to carry out their work in broad daylight,” said President of the Asia Society Vishakha N Desai in Lebanon’s Daily Star newspaper.

Dating from around the beginning of the Christian era, and carved into a 130-foot-high rock, the seated image of the Buddha was second in importance in South Asia only to the Bamiyan Buddhas, Desai said.
, adding that the attack was the second one in less than a month.