MINGORA, Nov 21: Security forces backed by helicopter gunships and heavy artillery advanced a little further towards Alpuri, the headquarters of the Shangla district, on Wednesday.

Security personnel said that around 30 to 35 militants were killed when troops regained control of Manai Sar, a strategic height overlooking the road connecting Alpuri with Besham, a major town in Shangla.

However, a militant spokesman refuted the claim and said the militants had killed about 40 soldiers in fierce clashes in Shangla district.

“We are very much in control of the area and the claim made by the security forces is a lie,” said spokesman Sirajuddin from an unknown location.

There were reports that six civilians were killed when shells hit two houses.

Local people of Kabal told Dawn that about 20 houses and two schools were damaged in the Kabal sub-division, which remained the target of intense artillery shelling on Tuesday night and Wednesday.

One shell hit the residence of one Sardarul Mulk in Kabal’s Kala Kalae area, resulting in the death of his wife, two sons and a daughter. Mr Mulk, his other son and two sisters suffered serious injuries. People in the neighbourhood retrieved the bodies and the injured from the debris of the house.

Witnesses said that another shell struck the house of one Haji Toor Khan in Kabal town, killing his two grandsons.

Two school buildings, including the Government Girls Primary School and the private Hira School, were badly damaged by the shelling.

An official spokesman said at the media centre in Swat that security forces used artillery after their base in Kabal had come under a rocket attack.

About the civilian casualties, he said the forces had asked the inhabitants to vacate the Akhund and Dagai villages, and the people of the nearby Kala Kaley should have left their homes.

There were unconfirmed reports that two soldiers were killed and two others were injured when rockets landed in a security forces’ camp in Kabal.

Bomber killed