UPPER DIR, July 26: Three bullet-riddled bodies were found in the border villages of Barawal tehsil in Dir Upper on Tuesday, locals said.

They said that the bodies were found in bushes at Hatan Darra, Shataiz, Nusrat Darra and Saro Kallay areas. The decomposed bodies were beyond recognition, they told Dawn.

“The bodies were not recognisable but these could be of the attackers, who had come from across the border, as none of the locals has been missing,” they said.

The residents buried the bodies in their graveyards. It merits a mention here that locals had strongly resisted militants when they attacked the area on July 6. The militants had first attacked a security checkpost at Shaltalo on June 1, killing 27 personnel of Dir Levies and police besides four civilians.

The militants had again attacked several villages on July 6 but local lashkar repulsed the attack. Security forces had claimed that 75 of the attackers had been killed in both those incidents.

Meanwhile, three persons were critically injured when two groups exchanged fire over a land dispute in Bagh Kallay of Hatan Darra on Tuesday. — Syed Zahid Jan