Pakistani Taliban leader Ali Bakht was among 14 militants killed during clashes in the Swat Valley in the country's north on Wednesday.

Major Farooq of the Army Media Centre in Swat told the Pakistani daily, Dawn, that nine top militants, including Ali Bakht, had been killed during an operation in Kabal tehsil in the North West Frontier Province.

Two security personnel and several militants were injured in an exchange of fire.

Ali Bakht, a close aide of Maulana Fazlullah, was buried in an ancestral graveyard in Deolai on Wednesday evening. Militant commanders and a large number of people attended the funeral.

Government forces blew up houses of Ali Bakht and local commander Fazalur Rehman during the operation. According to local people, both the commanders were in the houses during the attack.

Fazal Wadood, another Taliban commander, was among seven other Taliban killed.

Ali Bakht was among the top 25 commanders of the Tehrik-i-Taliban (Swat chapter) who had negotiated the May peace agreement with the ANP-led provincial government.

He also liaised between the Swat district government and the Taliban.

He was earlier in the Awami National Party but quit and joined the Tehrik Nifaz-i-Sharia Muhammadi.

He was the fourth Taliban commander killed in the current military operation in Swat