By Junaid Khan

MINGORA, Pakistan, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Pakistani troops have secured hills overlooking militant strongholds in a northwestern valley where up to 45 rebels and four soldiers have been killed in fighting this week, military officials said.

Pakistani forces launched an offensive this month to clear hundreds of well-armed Islamist militants loyal to a radical cleric from the scenic Swat valley of North West Frontier Province.

In the latest fighting, troops also shut down an FM radio station that the cleric, Fazlullah, had been using to call for jihad, or holy war, a military spokesman said.

"We have secured Najia hilltop and Gunj, Usmani-Sar and Segram hills from the militants," military spokesman, Major Amjad Iqbal, said on Tuesday referring to strategic peaks above rebel positions.

Security forces have been battling militants along the Afghan border, especially in the remote North and South Waziristan regions, in recent years and hundreds of soldiers and militants have been killed.

But the infiltration of hundreds of militants into the Swat valley, in support of hardline cleric Fazlullah, has raised fears of the insurgency spreading into so-called settled areas.

President Pervez Musharraf cited rising militant violence as one of the factors behind his decision to impose emergency rule on Nov. 3.

Up to 45 rebels have been killed in the two days of fighting that began on the weekend after the army sent in ground troops after weeks of helicopter and artillery attacks on the militants, the military said.

The military says up to 500 militants, including some foreigners, have infiltrated into the valley from strongholds on the Afghan border.

The valley, with the country's only ski resort and ancient Buddhist ruins, had until recently been a tourist destination. (Writing by Augustine Anthony; Editing by Robert Birsel and Sanjeev Miglani)

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