PARACHINAR, Feb 6: A soldier was killed and 12 injured after militants attacked a vehicle of security forces in Shaheedano Dhand area of Lower Kurram Agency near Pak-Afghan border on Monday.

They said the injured were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital in Thall town of Hangu district.

Officials said the security personnel returned fire and forced militants into fleeing.

Two days ago, eight soldiers were killed and five kidnapped after militants attacked a convoy of security forces in the same area. The kidnapped soldiers are still missing.

In Charsadda district, militants blew up a government primary school for girls in a village in Shabqadar tehsil on Sunday night.

Villagers said the school building crumbled after explosives planted at night exploded. Police and bomb disposal squad showed up shortly after the blast and collected evidence.

Officials said at least six kilograms of explosives were used in the attack. They said police had begun a hunt for the perpetrators of the blast in the area.

In Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency, two people were killed and one injured in two separate incidents over the last two days.

Among the dead is a Malakdinkhel resident, who was kidnapped by militants two days ago. His headless body was later dumped in Gud Malang area.

No group claimed responsibility for the killing. Name of the dead couldn't be ascertained. In another incident, a youth, Bilal, died and his friend Adnan injured after a stray mortar shell fell on a house in Meri Khel area.

Meanwhile, families of five injured terror suspects from Bara have alleged that their members were denied proper treatment at Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital.

According to officials of local political administration, these suspects, all workers of a local plastic factory, including Shabbir Khan, Naqeeb Khan, Niaz Mohammad, Said Alam and Alif Khan, were critically injured after security forces fired at their van near Alamgudar on January 29. The driver, Yousaf, who also suffered injures, went away.

They were shifted to ICRC Hospital in Peshawar by their relatives but were taken into custody two days later by personnel of an intelligence agency before being moved to Lady Reading Hospital, where they are kept under tight police security.

Officials said the van driver, who was also suspected of having contacts with a local banned militant organisation, was on the run. When contacted, parents of the captured workers denied that their sons had any links with a militant organisation.

Meanwhile, Ghulam Farooq, political tehsildar of Bara, said his administration was trying to verify the identity of the intelligence agency that picked up factory workers from ICRC Hospital. "We have no knowledge of the incident whatsoever and are now investigating the matter," he told .Dawn