KOHAT/GHALANAI, July 4: The volunteers of a tribal laskhar regained control of the Gahreeb Khel Mountain, situated between Darra Adamkhel and Kohat district, after a fierce battle with militants on Monday.

Official sources told Dawn that a large number of militants attacked Jawaki village of Frontier Region of Kohat from the Ghareeb Khel Mountain. The said mountain separates Darra town from other semi-autonomous areas of Kohat.

The volunteers of the lashkar fought with militants for more than one hour and repulsed them, sources said. The volunteers established a checkpost at the mountain after frustrating the designs of militants.

Jawaki has been under constant attack by militants, who had enforced their own style of Sharia in the area in 2007. The tribesmen of the area have formed a lashkar of about 300 armed volunteers to ward off attacks of militants and block their entry into Kohat. The lashkar arrested a suicide bomber recently and handed him over to security forces.

Meanwhile, security forces arrested five suspected militants during a search operation in Darra Adamkhel after a checkpost came under attack on Monday.

Security forces launched a search operation in Zarghunkhel, Zor Kallay and Talam Kallay after a checkpost at the top of Ammay Kammay Mountain was attacked by militants with automatic weapons. The attackers sneaked into Orakzai Agency when security forces retaliated, sources said.

They said that the five suspects, arrested during the operation, were shifted to an undisclosed place for interrogation.

Security forces monitor the area from FC Fort, which has been reconstructed after militants destroyed it, at Kotal Pass. But the movement of militants between Darra Adamkhel and Oarkzai Agency has not been successfully stopped during the last four years due to difficult terrain having numerous man-made and natural hideouts.

Meanwhile, the driver and a guard of the chairman of Haleemzai Peace Committee were injured when his vehicle was targeted with a remote controlled bomb in Sangar Ghaiba Khawar area of of Mohmand Agency on Monday.

Mohammad Ali Haleemzai, head of the peace body, remained unhurt in the attack. The injured were shifted to Agency Headquarters Hospital for treatment from where they were referred to Peshawar.

The political administration with the help of Levies and Khasadar forces conducted a search operation in the area after the incident and arrested two suspects.