The Pakistan Army on Sunday launched a fresh drive against pro-Taliban militants in the northwestern Swat region amidst indications that the security forces would adopt a tougher approach against the ultras in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Troops in the Swat valley of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) were mobilised for a new offensive against militant followers of radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah who had fled from towns and villages and regrouped near Matta, the army said.

"There were reports that there were a lot of militants gathering in that area. They were terrorising people there and making life difficult for them," said military spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad.

Acting on these reports, the army launched an operation this morning. Arshad did not give any casualty figures, saying the operation was still going on and the militants would be "eliminated".

Over 300 militants have been killed and scores arrested since the security forces launched an operation in October last year to quell the activities of Fazlullah and his men.

Meanwhile, the administration is expected to adopt a "harder military approach" towards militancy in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan following the resignation of NWFP Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai.

Aurakzai, a retired general and a leader of the Aurakzai tribe, had backed a "peaceful solution" to the militancy along the northwestern border and helped broker a controversial truce with the rebels.

He had also played a key role in the exchange of 25 militants for some 250 soldiers abducted by the militants led by Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who has been blamed for masterminding the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto [Images].

A strong military response to militancy in the lawless tribal areas is expected to follow Aurakzai's departure, analysts said.

"I think that the emphasis on the political solution will be lesser and hard things have to come by," Khalid Aziz, head of the Regional Institute of Policy Research and Training, told Daily Times.

"Aurakzai was trying to balance the government's acts in the tribal areas with an emphasis on a political solution. With his departure, this emphasis will vanish," said Aziz, a former chief secretary of NWFP.

The peace deal signed by Aurakzai with militants in North Waziristan collapsed in July 2006, when the ultras resumed attacks on the security forces.

Brig (retired) Mehmood Shah, a former security chief of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), said with Aurakzai's departure, the army would have a "greater say and influence" in military and political decisions in the tribal areas.