September 11, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 10, 1429

MINGORA, Sept 10: Security forces continued to target suspected militant hideouts in Swat on Wednesday, leaving 11 people dead and several others wounded.

According to sources, jet fighters bombed militant positions in Koza Bandai. Several houses were destroyed in the shelling.

They said two fighters made several sorties at low altitude over Kabal and dropped three bombs. Columns of fire and smoke were seen rising from three places after the bombing, they added.

A military spokesman, however, denied that jets had pounded the area, saying the jets only conducted reconnaissance flights in upper Swat.

Col Nadeem Anwar said 11 militants were killed and seven others injured by artillery fire and shelling in Koza Bandai. A search operation had been launched in the area on the insistence of the local people and it would continue till goals were achieved, he said, adding that pressure tactics would be used to force militants into surrender.

The sources said security forces pounded militant positions in different localities of Koza Bandai late on Tuesday night.

One of the shells hit a gas cylinder in a shop of a local leader of the Shabab-i-Milli, destroying the shop and adjacent houses. However, no casualty was reported because villagers had abandoned the houses several days ago.

No end is in sight to exodus from the volatile Kabal tehsil, particularly Koza Bandai and Bara Bandas, despite an unrelenting curfew.

Swat’s DCO Shaukat Ali Yousafzai told newsmen that relief camps had been set up in 12 schools of Mingora.An ISPR spokesman said curfew was relaxed across the district, except Kabal and Ayub Bridge area, from 7am to 7pm.

According to the sources, security personnel killed two people, Sajjad and Nasir, and injured one, Anwar, for violating curfew in the Mingora bazaar late on Tuesday night.

The locals have been clamouring for a long curfew relaxation during Ramazan and a ban on firing in the air by security agencies.