KHAR, Dec 28: Three civilians including a child were killed in Mandel village of Bajaur tribal region when a mortar shell hit a house on Saturday night.

Sources said that security forces had engaged militants in Mandel and Kohi villages and were targeting their positions with light artillery and mortars. A shell landed in a residential compound in which three residents including a minor were killed, sources added.Sources said that security forces pounded a suspected position on Kohi hilltop from where militants had fired rockets on Khar town on Friday. Sources said that militants had constructed bunkers on the Kohi hilltop.

Militants fired six rockets from the same position at the paramilitary forces headquarters in Khar town before dawn on Sunday. No casualty was reported. One rocket hit a house in Khar town which was partially damaged. Troops had been targeting the militants’ positions on the hilltops since Friday.

Authorities have started operation against the concerned tribe and arrested more than 70 people under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation.