LAKKI MARWAT/KHAR, Jan 17: Five militants and a tribesman were killed in a gunbattle with security forces backed by a tribal lashkar in Kherukhel Pakka area of the Lakki Marwat district on Saturday.

Sources said that fighting erupted when the militants travelling in a pickup broke an FC barrier near the Kherukhel fort and tried to flee.

“FC men opened fire on the pickup when its driver did not follow the signal and broke the barrier,” the sources said.

The militants abandoned the vehicle as its tyres burst in the firing and escaped. The security personnel and a lashkar of the Kherukhel village chased them and surrounded them near a dry channel.

The sources said that the militants opened fire which was returned. The gunbattle lasted for more than five hours in which all the five militants dead.

A member of the tribal lashkar, identified as Obaidullah, was also killed and another, Sahib Jan, was injured in the shootout.

According to the sources, security forces seized a huge cache of weapons and ammunitions from the abandoned vehicle.

Security was beefed up and patrolling by law-enforcement personnel was increased in the area after the gunbattle.

In another incident, a militant commander was killed and his driver injured when unidentified attackers ambushed their vehicle in Badae Siah area in the militants’ stronghold of Mamond tehsil.

Soon after the incident, a large number of militants besieged the area and launched a search for the attackers.

The militants’ commander for Umarae area, Afzal Khan, was going to Tarkho area when his vehicle came under attack.

He died on the spot and his driver, Ikram Khan, was injured.