MINGORA/KOHAT, Dec 1: Two militants were killed in exchange for fire with security forces in Matta tehsil of Swat valley on Wednesday.

Sources said that security forces cordoned off Shakar Darra area in Matta tehsil and started search operation after getting information that some suspected militants were hiding there. Security forces besieged a house and asked militants to surrender but they opened firing on them. Security forces killed two militants in exchange of fire.

Both the killed militants were wanted by local administration and security forces in various cases of violence. Arms were also recovered from their possession.

In Kohat, at least two persons were injured when militants targeted a passenger vehicle carrying volunteers of a tribal lashkar to Paya Jawaki from Bilitang with a remote controlled bomb on Wednesday.

Eyewitnesses said that a remote controlled explosive device exploded when the vehicle crossed Government High School Bilitang.

They said that terrorists used an improvised explosive device, attached to a mortar shell planted on a bicycle, in the attack. Two tribesmen identified as Fazal Rehman and Fazal Raheem, residents of Paya area of FR Kohat, sustained injuries while the vehicle was slightly damaged. The tribesmen of FR Kohat have raised an armed lashkar to expel militants, coming from Darra Adamkhel to attack security forces and police on Rawalpindi Road in Kohat.

Last month the lashkar chased and killed two militants when Taliban attacked the house of a tribal elder. Since then militants have been targeting the families of lashkar volunteers and passenger vehicles. —Dawn Report

Taliban had enforced their own style of Sharia in the area in 2008 and awarded strict punishments to local criminals and alleged spies of the government. Several people had also been shot dead and beheaded by Taliban to terrorise tribesmen, according to locals.