 Around 11 civilians were killed and 9 wounded when a stray army shell hit a residential area in Swat District, officials said on Thursday. Meanwhile, around 40 suspected militants, including a brother of the pro-Taliban militant leader, Maulana Fazlullah, were arrested, officials told AFP.
The shell destroyed a house in Allahabad, a village in the Swat valley, as security forces continued an offensive against the followers of Fazlullah late on Wednesday, a police official said. Eleven members of the family died, while nine more were wounded, said the official, Mohibullah Khan. However, military spokesman Major Amjad Iqbal told Reuters that he had no information about civilian casualties in the village but confirmed that a clash had taken place there on Thursday after militants fired rockets at troops. “We responded and fired into the area from where the fire came. People should not shelter any militants in their residences,” Iqbal said in Mingora.
| Cheeze. The voice of sweet reason in Pakistain. Who'da thunkit? |
Police and residents said a two-year-old boy and his mother were among the dead, who otherwise were mostly males aged 16 to 22, AFP reported. The shredded bodies of two victims were covered in white sheets, witnesses said, adding that residents were protesting against the deaths.
Hospital official Jamil Khan said 12 injured people, including three women, had been brought to the hospital and around six were in a serious condition.
Top Military Spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad said security forces had arrested Maulana Fazal Ahmed along with other militants at a checkpost located between Chakdara and Mingora, Online reported.
| Were they disguised as girls? They usually are. |
They included a nephew of Maulana Sirajuddin, the militantsÂ’ main spokesman, and a 20-year-old student carrying a suicide vest, both of whom were traveling in the same car when they were detained, Amjad said.
"You there, in the suicide vest! Stickem up!"
"Hokay." |
The bodies of six militants, including two Uzbeks, were found on Wednesday, Arshad said. Up to 220 militants and 15 soldiers have been killed in the last 10 days. |