Eight militants were killed on Thursday when security forces pounded their hideouts in the restive Swat valley, AFP reported the military as saying. Six of the militants died when helicopter gunships fired missiles in Ningolai Kabal area, hitting the house of local militant commander Khurshid Shah, military spokesman Nadeem Anwar said. In a separate incident, in the Sher Palam area of Swat, two militants were killed in clashes between security forces and militants. "The bodies of those two have been handed over to the local elders," Anwar said, adding that rifles, grenades and radio sets had been recovered in the area.
Constable killed: Meanwhile, militants killed a police constable and his daughter in Matta tehsil, official sources told Daily Times. They said the militants opened fire and killed Constable Dost Mohammad Khan and his nine-year old daughter when they were returning home in Kooza Bamkhela in Swat district.
The militants blew up a telephone exchange and several houses in Kabal tehsil.
The security forces fired around 200 artillery shells on the militants' hideouts on Thursday. Despite heavy pounding through fighter and spy planes and heavy artillery, the security forces have not fully taken control of the area, locals said.
Sources said the government was intensifying the Swat operation as additional troops were deployed in most of the affected areas of the violence-hit district. Locals said the security forces continued an unannounced curfew in Kabal tehsil, due to which about 100,000 people have fled to safer places. The government had cut off electricity and telephone lines in Kooza Bandai.
The operation and the continued curfew have added to the problems of the residents and created a shortage of edibles and medicines. The security forces have asked the people to vacate the area but have closed the Ayub Bridge checkpost and Bara Banda checkpost. Many of the fleeing people, including children and elders, had to swim across the River Swat. Thousands of people have taken refuge in Malakand division where they are forced to spend nights under the open sky.
The people of Kabal tehsil warned to undertake a long march towards Islamabad if the government did not stop the military operation in Swat.