PESHAWAR (Pakistan) - ARMED Taleban defied a government curfew and patrolled the main town in Pakistan's Swat district after rejecting an Islamic appeals court set up under a peace deal, witnesses said on Monday.

The government of North West Frontier Province said on Saturday that an Islamic appellate court had been created to serve the three million people who live in Malakand, which includes Swat, under a deal to end a Taleban-led insurgency.

But a Taleban spokesman rejected the new court, charging it had been created without adequate consultation, and condemned an ongoing military assault against Taleban fighters holed up in other districts of Malakand.

Authorities imposed a curfew from 6.00 pm to 9.00 am in Mingora, the main town in Swat, on Sunday for the first time since signing the February deal with pro-Taleban cleric Sufi Mohammad to try to end nearly two years of violence.

Residents said they saw armed Taleban patrolling the main roads in Mingora late on Sunday despite the curfew.

Security officials and police declined to comment when asked whether armed Taleban were patrolling in Mingora.

Pakistan in February agreed to let religious hardliners enforce Islamic law in Swat, once a popular ski resort, and the rest of Malakand in a bid to end the bloody Taleban uprising.

But instead of disarming as required under the deal, armed Taleban pushed further towards the capital Islamabad, taking over large swathes of other Malakand districts Lower Dir and Buner - and prompting the latest offensive.

Pakistan's army announced Sunday that 80 militants have been killed so far in its offensive against the Taleban in Buner. -- AFP