Peshawar, Pakistan (CNSNews.com) - Summer has arrived in the flower-adorned Swat valley of Northwest Pakistan, but a scenic area that has drawn tourists for centuries is now attracting the attention of militants who continue to wreak havoc.

Within six hours of a ceasefire agreement between the government of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government and fighters led by Swat-based cleric Maulana Fazlullah, a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a police station in the town of Mingora, seriously injuring three policemen.

Under Fazlullah, who from hiding uses a pirate radio station to deliver fiery sermons, the group has since July 2007 made its presence felt in the area, bombing historic Buddhist sites, torching girls' schools, and killing prominent political leaders. Thousands of people have fled the violence.

President Pervez Musharraf sent 25,000 troops to fight against the group in November 2007, but achieved limited successes. No prominent militant commanders were captured or killed and attacks on security forces have continued.

The reorganization of some militant groups into an umbrella organization, the Pakistan Taliban Movement (TTP) under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud, boosted Taliban activity in Swat and other tribal areas, including Khyber, Mohmand and Bajaur.

Swat-based journalist Niaz Ahmad Khan says that since the launch of military operations, nine suicide attacks have killed more than 150 people in Swat -- an area with a population of 1.7 million -- while bomb blasts in nearby areas killed another 140 people. Victims include security force members and civilians.

The newly formed government in Islamabad last month announced talks with the Taliban, and a series of negotiations were held between the two sides. But Mehsud suspended the talks after the government refused to pull out 80,000 security forces from the tribal areas.

After a brief lull, violence has resumed in Swat, including the torching of four girls' high schools.

Taliban spokesman Moulvi Omar confirmed that the Fazlullah group was behind the attacks, telling reporters in a phone call that the group had "felt sidelined" as the government did deals with other militant organizations.

The violent campaign against girls' education -- which Fazlullah rails against as un-Islamic -- has forced thousands of people to withdraw their daughters from schools.

Zia-ud-Din Yousafzai, secretary of the Swat Schools Management Association, said that of 72,000 girls enrolled at the beginning of the academic year, some 30 percent had left as a result of Fazlullah's sermons and another 20 percent stay away "out of fear."

Education Department officials said 59 primary schools for girls have been closed due to the violence and about 30 others have been commandeered by the military.

"Girls' education is the main casualty of the conflict between Fazlullah militants and Pakistan security forces," a department official said on condition of anonymity.

Asked why the government was unable to protect the schools, Wajid Ali Khan, a NWFP minister from Swat said the authorities were holding talks with militants and expected the situation to be normalized soon.

Experts believe that the Taliban has strengthened its positions along the Pakistan-Afghan border and that the regrouping into the TTP is making it harder for the government to tackle the militancy.

"If Taliban excesses are not checked in time, they will extend their activities to settled areas of the country, as they did in Swat," warned Brigadier (retired) Mahmoud Shah, former secretary of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which neighbors NWFP.

Since 9/11 the United States has provided some $10.8 billion in aid to Pakistan, of which $5.6 billion has gone toward reimbursing Pakistan's military for combat operations, particularly in unpoliced tribal areas along the border.

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