Pakistani troops also claimed another 47 kills in their bid to retake the Swat Valley from the Taliban, making Saturday an especially bloody day for the Pakistani territory along the Afghan border.

Violence is engulfing that area as American and allied forces crank up the pressure on al-Qaida and Taliban militants entrenched in its forbidding and barely governed mountains and valleys. Washington and other nations are pouring in billions of dollars in aid and military assistance to prop up the pro-Western government in Islamabad.