PESHAWAR, March 13: Suspected militants attacked and injured five young cricket fans with handgrenades as they sat watching the exciting India-South Africa World Cup match in the privacy of a room in Badhber suburbs on Saturday night.

Police said the grenades were of low-intensity. The five suffered minor injuries and were removed to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar where they were in stable condition.

Security forces fighting the militants farther away killed four militants in an exchange of fire in Swat and destroyed two hideouts of the Taliban in Ublan Darra in Kohat on Sunday.

Police identified the victims of the weird attack on the cricket enthusiasts as Shahid, Qaiser, Shahnawaz, Nasir Ali and Riaz.

SHO Abdul Qadir of Badhber police station told Dawn that they were watching the exciting match in a room meant for the watchman of a tubewell in Sulemankhel area when the attackers threw in two hand grenades.

The grenades exploded with a loud noise brought local people and police rushing to the spot. They shifted the injured to hospital.

Investigations have started following the registration of an FIR.

The area on the southern fringe of Peshawar is considered sensitive due to its proximity with the tribal region and activities of militants.

In Swat, four militants were killed in exchange of fire with security forces on the night between Saturday and Sunday. Officials said that militants were trying to sneak into Swat from Dir when they were challenged by security forces in Kabal tehsil. Instead of surrendering, the militants opened firing on security personnel, they said. They added that four militants were killed in retaliatory firing by security forces.

Officials said that security forces also recovered weapons and explosives from the possession of dead militants. Two of the killed militants were identified as Karimullah, a resident of Odigram, and Aman Room of Gogadra.

Security forces also claimed to have destroyed two hideouts of Taliban in Ublan Darra area of Kohat on Sunday.

Officials said that secu-rity forces detected movement of militants between Darra Adamkhel and Orakzai Agency and targeted their hideouts with artillery.

They said that two hideouts of militants were destroyed during the shelling in the area.

Meanwhile, three family members of a khasadar were injured when a rocket fired from unspecified location hit his house in Jammu area of Frontier Region Kohat on Sunday.

Safarish Khan, a local elder, and police media cell said that a rocket fell on the house of Asil Badshah and exploded with a huge noise. His wife Wastia Bibi, six-year-old Jawad and minor girl Tahira were injured in the attack.

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