Pakistan's Taliban are warning Swat valley girls from attending schools, threatening them with death, in the manner of their Afghan counterparts.

The Taliban militants in the restive north-western Swat valley have warned parents to stop sending their daughters to school from January 15 after which they will blow up or torch the schools which violate the ban. They said that the violators would face death.

The ultimatum was given by Shah Durran, a deputy of Maulana Fazlullah, the Taliban commander in Swat, on the militants' clandestine-run FM radio channel. Girls should no longer be enrolled by government or private educational institutions, he ordered.

Swat residents said Taliban militants had already destroyed scores of government-run schools, leading some to set up private schools in their homes to educate girls.

Naeem Khan, an official at the Pakistani education ministry, said there are about 1,580 schools registered in Swat. Already Taliban have destroyed 252 schools, primarily co-educational schools.

FTP/HAR