KOHAT, March 5: The terrorists' bid to blow up a tribe elder's house in Hangu city was thwarted on Monday after occupants spotted a 15kg improvised explosive device on the premises and got it promptly defused by the bomb disposal squad.

Local officials said tribal elder Islam Khan Orakzai living in Balamina area was the target of the terror plan.

They said police had registered a case against unidentified terrorists and began a search for them.

Also in the day, Kohat cantonment area police arrested a hardened criminal near the Courts Road.

Naimatullah wanted by Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police for car thefts and fraud was later produced before a court, which sent him on a three-day remand to Kohat prison.

In another incident, an eight-year-old girl drowned in a local canal on Monday.

Sonia, who lived in Peshawar's Badh Ber area and was in the town with family, skidded into the canal in Khwajaabad area near golf ground while playing, and drowned.

Her body was later pulled out before being shifted to the Women and Children's Hospital for autopsy. It was later handed over to the girl's family for burial.

Meanwhile, the Kohat division commissioner on Monday urged people to patiently wait for resolution of their problems.

During a meeting, Sahibzada Anees said the administration was trying its best to resolve people's problems but since that might take some time, people should show patience and avoid agitating against it.

He said lack of communication between tribal elders and the administration caused misunderstandings and therefore, there should be no communication gap between the two.

The commissioner said locals were welcome to his office for discussion on their problems and that he would go all-out for their early resolution.

DIG Imtiaz Shah said police were the people's servants and that police stations were to dispense justice to them.

He, however, said controlling crime was the society's collective responsibility. He said police were committed to ensuring peace in the city.

Senior police officials and elders of Kohat Citizen Forum from Hangu, Karak and Kohat, and traders were in attendance.