KOHAT, May 30 Eight militants were killed and another was injured in shelling by helicopter gunships on their hideouts in the Jawaki area of the Kohat Frontier Region here on Saturday.

Ground troops backed by helicopter gunships engaged militants on the third consecutive day in the semi-autonomous area of Kohat. Five suspected militants were arrested during a search operation in Jawaki and Shindand areas.

However, a Tehrik-i-Taliban spokesman for the Jawaki area, Mansoor, told Dawn by telephone that the attack by security forces had been repulsed.

He said a civilian was killed during the operation. He said that a school and a hospital were partially damaged in the intense artillery shelling.