Sufi Muhammad, the cleric who brokered a now defunct peace deal in Pakistan's Swat valley, has been arrested along with his aides, Pakistan and India media have said.
He was reportedly arrested during a raid in the town of Amandara in Malakand district along with five leaders of his banned organisation, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi.
Pakistan's government gave no confirmation of Sufi Muhammad's arrest but the military said his deputy, Mohammad Alam, and his spokesman, Ameer Izzat, had been arrested.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) information minister, told the AFP news agency that the aides were "holed up in the compound of a seminary when they were arrested along with a few militants".
Cleric Mohammad Wahab and three Afghan fighters were also arrested, Major-General Athar Abbas, the military's chief spokesman, said.
"The army raided the seminary on an intelligence tip-off that a meeting of terrorists was in progress there," Athar Abbas told AFP.
Sufi Muhammad struck a deal with the NWFP government in February to restore peace to Swat and surrounding areas by proposing to put three million people under Islamic law.
But the deal collapsed in May when Taliban fighters advanced to districts within 100km of Islamabad more than six weeks ago.
Under US pressure, Pakistan launched an offensive against Taliban fighters in the districts of Lower Dir, Buner and Swat after what Islamabad called violations of a ceasefire.
The military has since said it has retaken large swaths of the region from the Taliban and is close to routing the group.
But some residents have expressed anger at what they say is the high civilian toll and massive destruction from the army offensive.
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