Islamist militants showed off 48 men on Friday described as government troops who surrendered during the bloody fighting in northwestern Pakistan in what is termed as a humiliating display of the insurgents’ growing power.

The militants in the north-west district of Swat, masked and armed with AK-47 assault rifles and long knives, escorted journalists to a two-story concrete building in the town of Charabagh to display the men, most described as paramilitary troops from the locally recruited Frontier Corps. The troops were later freed.

“We have surrendered to the mujahedeen,” said Barkat Ullah, 24, who, like other captives, was wearing civilian clothes, saying they had left their uniforms at their posts. “We had no ammunition. We had no other option.”