MINGORA, Aug 24: At least six people, one of them a woman, were killed and 40 others were injured when security forces backed by helicopter gunships and artillery pounded militants’ hideouts in Kabal tehsil of Swat on Sunday.

According to local people, four people were killed when helicopter gunships attacked some areas in Kabal, a stronghold of the militants.

A canon shell landed in the house of one Altaf Hussain in Totano Banda area, killing his son and a guest.

About 40 people were injured and houses damaged in the attacks.

Four bullet-riddled bodies with hands tied with rope were found in a ditch in Khareri area of Matta tehsil.

The bodies were handed over to relatives.

The motive behind the murder could not be ascertained.

Matta police had no information about the incident.

Security forces, meanwhile, relaxed the curfew in Mingora and adjoining areas from 8am to 8pm.

But the curfew in troubled areas of Kabal and Charbagh was not relaxed.

Local people said they had been facing problems because of non-availability of items of daily use.

Tehrik-i-Taliban spokesman for Swat, Muslim Khan, said armed resistance would continue till the enforcement of Shariah in the region.

Meanwhile, funeral of 10 army soldiers killed a day earlier in Kabal area of Swat, was held in Peshawar on Sunday.

NWFP Governor Owais Ghani, Chief Minister Amir Haidar Khan Hoti, senior minister Rahim Dad Khan and GOC Maj-Gen Ghulam Dastagir attended the prayers.—Hameedullah Khan