August 23, 2008	Saturday	Sha'aban 20, 1429

MINGORA, Aug 22: A minor girl was killed and several others wounded as security forces continued shelling against militants while another girls’ school was torched in Swat on Friday.

The security forces, backed by helicopter gunship, targeted suspected positions of militants in the troubled areas including Tootano Bandai. A mortar shell hit the house of Fazal Hanan, killing a three-year-old girl and injured four women in the area of tehsil Kabal. Several other houses were reportedly damaged in the shelling.

A policeman Akbar Ali sustained injuries when militants attacked a security checkpost in Kabal. The militants fled when the security forces returned fire. However, a passer-by Subhan was injured in exchange of fire between the militants and security forces. The injured were rushed to the DHQ hospital Saidu Sharif.

The militants intercepted a passenger coach near Ningolai and disembarked a policeman Haji Nawab and took him to undisclosed location. The police constable was going to his home town in Malakand on leave from Matta.

Meanwhile, the militants set on fire another girls’ middle school in Qambar area on the outskirts of Mingora city.

The record and furniture of the school was reduced to ashes. At least 98 girls and boys schools have been torched or blown up so far in the region by the militants

The power supply remained suspended to Matta tehsil on the third consecutive day owing to the clashes between security forces and militants. This has multiplied the miseries of the common people in the area. The water supply to the houses also remained disrupted due to the prolonged electricity suspension forcing the people to vacate the area.

However, curfew was relaxed from 7am to 8pm throughout the district on Friday.