Pakistani security forces have arrested the spokesman for the Taliban in the Swat Valley, the military said, the first major arrest in the region since the army went on the offensive there more than four months ago.
The arrest of Muslim Khan is the latest blow for the Pakistan Taliban whose leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in the South Waziristan region last month.
Taliban advances early this year and a series of attacks in cities raised fears for Pakistan's future and alarmed its ally the United States, which even suggested the civilian government was "abdicating" to the militants.
But the Swat offensive, launched in late April, and attacks on the Taliban in their Afghan border strongholds including South Waziristan have done much to reassure the US of Pakistan's commitment to the fight against militancy.
Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said Mr Khan and four other Taliban leaders from Swat were arrested.
Confirming Mr Khan's detention,Interior Minister Rehman Malik said militants had no option but surrender.
"They will either be killed or arrested,"he said in the capital, Islamabad.
Military officials say more than 2,000 insurgents and more than 300 soldiers have been killed in the Swat offensive.There has been no independent verification of militant casualties.
Meanwhile, nearly 600 policemen recruited from ethnic Pashtun tribes in the Bara district have quit after an Islamist commander warned them over his illegal FM radio to give up their jobs.
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