16 militants arrested in Pakistan's Swat Valley

Sixteen militants were arrested and a huge cache of arms recovered by security forces in Pakistan's nothwestern Swat Valley on Saturday.

A fresh search operation was launched in the area around Tutan Bande and Manja villages after authorities imposed a night curfew in parts of the valley to facilitate the safe movement of troops.

The search was done following reports that radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who leads the militants in Swat, was hiding in the region, TV channels reported.

Fazlullah has been on the run since the army and paramilitary forces launched a major operation against his Shaheen Commando Force in November last year.

The cleric and his men had been running a parallel government in nearly 60 villages in Swat.

Close to 300 people, a majority of them militants, have been killed during operations in Swat.