SWABI, April 19: Three policemen received serious injuries here on Thursday when suspected persons hurled a hand grenade at them.

District Police Officer Abdul Rashid told journalists that the law enforcers where attacked near the mausoleum of Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed, Nishan-i-Haider.

The injured policemen were identified as Sub-inspector Murad Ali Shah and constables Nadeem Shah and Mohammad Abid. They were sent to the graveyard of Karnal Sher Khan Kallay to arrest few suspected persons, present there.

However, the suspected persons hurled a hand grenade at them when they reached the graveyard. The injured policemen were taken to district headquarters hospital in Mardan. Meanwhile, four persons were injured in a remote controlled blast in Shahookhel area of Hangu district on Thursday.

The bomb disposal squad also defused a 15-kilogram improvised explosive device at the same site after the blast.

Police said that a roadside bomb exploded when a passenger van, going to Shahookhel from the bazaar, reached the area. As a result the driver, Mohammad Shoaib, cleaner Rafiullah and pedestrians Mosam Ali and Ali Ahmed sustained injuries. They were provided with first aid at a local heath facility.

Also, police claimed to have arrested 62 criminals and seized huge quantity of weapons from their possession during a search operation in Kohat district. The operation was carried out in the villages near the tribal belt. The seizure included seven Kalashnikovs, four repeaters, 12 shotguns, nine rifles, 1,300 cartridges and 12 kilograms of hashish.

In Bajaur Agency, unidentified militants blew up a government school in Sharifkhana locality of tehsil Nawagai on the night between Wednesday and Thursday.

The residents of the area said that armed persons planted explosive device at the primary school for boys that went off with a bang, destroying the building completely.

Assistant Political Agent Tariq Khan told Dawn that watchman of the school was not present at the time of explosion. “Soon after the incident, the administration launched a search operation in the area and 10 persons including some locals were arrested,” he added.

Mr Khan said that the local people would rebuild the school according to collective responsibility. So for no one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

According to officials, 107 government schools have been destroyed in Bajaur so far by militants but only five of these have been rebuilt.