(AKI/DAWN) - At least six people, one of them a woman, were killed and 40 others were injured when security forces backed by helicopter gunships and artillery pounded Taliban militant hideouts in the Swat valley.According to local sources, four people were killed when helicopter gunships attacked some areas in Kabal, a stronghold of the militants. A canon shell landed in the house of a civilian in the Totano Banda area, killing two people. About 40 more people were injured and houses damaged in the attacks.
Meanwhile, four bullet-riddled bodies with hands tied with rope were found in a ditch in Khareri area of Matta tehsil.
Security forces, meanwhile, relaxed the curfew in Mingora and adjoining areas from 8am to 8pm. But the curfew in troubled areas of Kabal and Charbagh was not relaxed. Local people said they had been facing problems because of non-availability of items of daily use.
Tehrik-i-Taliban spokesman for Swat, Muslim Khan, said armed resistance would continue until the enforcement of Sharia or Islamic law in the region.
On Sunday, the funeral of 10 army soldiers killed a day earlier in Kabal area of Swat, was held in Peshawar.