SWAT, Oct 27: Sporadic clashes between local militants and security forces continued as nine more bodies, two of them headless, were found in different areas of Swat on Saturday morning.

Police said that two headless bodies were found in the Matta bazaar, but they did confirm their identity.

Bodies of all 13 victims, seven of them civilians, killed late on Friday night were brought to the Matta Hospital. The civilians were killed in crossfire between security forces and militants in Matta and Khwazakhela areas. The home of Swat district nazim was set on fire in Matta tehsil.

While government sources confirmed the killing of 13 people on Friday, no casualty was reported on Saturday.

A senior government official said that situation was going out of control in the area and it was time for an action.

“Situation has been deteriorating and now it’s time to take strong action against militants to establish writ of the government,” NWFP Home Secretary Badshah Gul Wazir said in Peshawar.

A large number of people were seen migrating from Kabal and Matta areas of the district.

A lieutenant of Maulana Fazlullah called upon the government to enforce Shariah in the Malakand region to end the conflict.

Locals in Kabal, about 15km from the district headquarters Mingora, told Dawn that security forces had thwarted an attempt by militants to take over the Kabal police station in the morning.

A checkpost set up by local militants at Pir Kalay in Matta Tehsil continues to function and the militants are checking vehicles and people entering the area.

Militants have also occupied the Charbagh checkpost in Khwazakhela and deputed their men there.

“We have a one-point agenda and that is the enforcement of Shariah in Swat and the rest of Malakand region in accordance with the assurance given to us by the government,” Muslim Khan, the deputy of Maulana Fazlullah, told journalists in Imam Dehri, the village from where the militant cleric runs his controversial FM radio station.

Maulana Fazlullah is reported to have gone underground. It is not yet clear whether he has crossed over to Kohistan district or is hiding in his village.

Mr Muslim denied that the group had waged any war against the government, saying: “We have yet to announce a jihad against the government and in that case the situation will turn from bad to worse.”

The home secretary told Dawn that peaceful means to resolve the crisis had failed and now the government had to adopt strong measures. “Paramilitary troops are sufficient to quell the mini-insurgency and presently there is no need for calling regular troops,” Mr Wazir said.

Military spokesman Maj-Gen Waheeed Arshad told Dawn: “Our troops are standby and if the provincial government makes a request they will intervene.”

Eyewitnesses said that militants besieged on Saturday morning the home of Swat District Nazim Jamal Nasir in the Shangoti village in Matta and disarmed servants. The nazim and his family had already left the home after they had come under attack a few weeks ago.

Sources in the Matta police station, about 30km from Mingora, said that militants had vacated the residence after setting it on fire.

Sources told Dawn that armed militants had laid siege to a police station in Kabal and asked policemen to surrender. However, the policemen trapped inside refused to come out. Militants left after paramilitary forces opened fire from a nearby area. No loss of life was reported in the incident.

Sporadic clashes between security forces and militants were also reported in Kabal, Bara Banda and Khwazakhela — strongholds of Maulana Fazlullah and other militant groups.