MINGORA, Nov 20: Sixteen militants were killed and several others wounded when air force planes attacked a camp the insurgents were running in a government school building and two houses in Gat area and Peuchar areas of Swat’s Matta tehsil on Thursday.

It is learnt that seven women were killed and 25 people were injured when mortar shells hit several houses in Alam Gunj area of Khwazakhel. The injured were taken to the tehsil hospital in Khwazakhela and those with severe injuries were later referred to a hospital in Saidu Sharif.

A local political leader was gunned down in Matta.

Meanwhile, six barber shops were blown up in Qamber, near the district headquarters in Mingora. Barbers in Swat region have been facing threats from militant organisations for a long time and followers of Maulana Fazlullah have been asking them to wind up their business.

Security forces claimed to have arrested five militants in Kanju.