PESHAWAR: The bullet-riddled bodies of 15 suspected Taliban militants were found on Thursday in the northwestern Swat valley, officials said, amid concerns of extra-judicial killings in the area.

Officials have previously said 251 corpses have been dumped next to roads, beheaded or strung up in Swat since July, when the government declared a massive military operation had almost defeated Taliban fighters.

‘I can confirm that 15 bodies were found today and our information is that they are militants,’ army spokesman Major Mushtaq Khan told AFP.

‘They might have been the victims of infighting among militant groups or killed by local people.’

Residents in the rural Swat town of Mangalore on Thursday alerted authorities to the bodies dumped in three different areas.

Doctor Naeemullah Khan said that 15 bodies were brought to the rural health centre with all the victims apparently shot dead during the past 12 hours.

Security forces are already facing questions about the mysterious appearance of bodies of suspected militants that have been turning up in Swat, some showing signs of torture.

The military claims to have almost cleared the scenic valley of militants and says the dead insurgents were killed by avenging local residents, but human rights groups have accused the army of extra-judicial killings.

The military denies any responsibility and says no orders have been issued to execute suspected militants.

Swat had slipped out of government control after radical cleric Fazlullah mounted a violent campaign in which his followers beheaded opponents, burnt schools and fought against troops to enforce Islamic sharia law.

The army launched an offensive in April and says nearly 2,150 militants and 177 soldiers were killed in Swat, Buner and Lower Dir. The military has now set its sights on an offensive in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

The military's April offensive forced 1.9 million civilians from their homes, most of them seeking refuge with relatives and the rest crowding into refugee camps, creating a humanitarian crisis for impoverished Pakistan.