MINGORA, Nov 25: Security forces claimed on Sunday that they had killed 30 militants and captured two strategic mountain positions of militants and key routes to Imam Dehri.

Informed sources told Dawn that troops, backed by artillery and helicopter gunships, captured the key positions of Najia Top and Usmani Sar after shelling Imam Dehri, Koza Banda and Bara Banda areas.

The claims could not be verified from independent sources as mobile phone network across the Malakand region was jammed.

The sources said a commander of the Khan Khitab alias Baba group, which controlled the Matta tehsil, had been killed. His name could not be ascertained.

Reports reaching here from the area said that the militants had vacated the Imam Dehri Centre, an under-construction seminary of Maulana Fazlullah, and entered nearby villages.

According to reports, the troops had besieged Imam Dehri area, about seven kilometres from Mingora, blocking all exit and entry routes to the area and there was no sign of the militants on and around some of their pickets. The Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) on Sunday said that security forces had cleared the area up to Imam Dheri and captured key mountain heights.

According to an ISPR press release, 30 militants had been killed in the operation since Saturday night. It further said that one soldier had been killed and two others injured in the operation.

There were also reports of some civilians killed by the artillery fire. It is learnt that the house of Bara Banda Union Council Nazim, Sher Afzal Khan, was badly damaged. His servant, Ishaq Khan, was killed and another man was injured in the shelling.

According to local people, two militants were killed and three were injured when their positions in the Shakardara area came under fire from helicopter gunships.

Another three militants were killed on the Najia hilltop.

Two policemen suffered injuries when a police van was attacked in Fizzagut area on bank of the Swat River.

Amjad Iqbal, a government spokesman at the Mingora Media Centre, told newsmen that security forces had restricted the movement of the militants and they were facing problems in communicating with each other.

An ammunition dump of the militants in the Government School of Kuza Bande had also been destroyed, he said.

He said one policeman was injured when a bomb planted in a parked van, exploded on Saturday night.

CURFEW: The authorities on Sunday extended the curfew in the entire Swat valley for another 24 hours. The curfew, in force in the area for a couple of days, has added to hardships of the people who are experiencing a shortage of food and other essential commodities.