LANDI KOTAL/GHALANAI, Oct 23: Two persons including a suspected militant were shot dead while another was injured during a search operation in Akkakhel area of Bara on Tuesday, sources said.

Although security forces declined to give details of the search operation conducted in Gud Malang and Misri chowk localities of Akkakhel, local sources said that the dead included a passer-by and an activist of a local militant group.

Sources said that the operation was conducted jointly by army and Frontier Corps. They said that security forces rounded up 150 residents of the area and shifted them to Fort Salop for investigation.

The officials of Bara political administration, when contacted, said that such operations had become a routine exercise in Bara with little or no results.

“They (security forces) never share such information and plans with the local administration and most of the time they act on their own,” said an administrative official, who wished not to be named.

The forces also imposed curfew in most areas of Sipah including Alam Gudar and Dogra on Tuesday.

Spokesman for the security forces Maj Fazl, who was away from Bara, told Dawn on phone that he had no details of the search operation.

Local officials said that they had anticipated the Akkakhel operation soon after the killing of six policemen including SP Khurshid Khan in an attack by militants on Ghaziabad police post on the outskirts of Peshawar.

It was generally believed that the attackers had come from Akkakhel and went back to the area after killing SP Khurshid Khan and other policemen.

Meanwhile, Commandant Khyber Rifles Col Fayaz on Tuesday handed over 35 Kukikhel and three Zakhakhel tribesmen, arrested during Ghundi operation, to a delegation of tribal elders.

The commandant also returned 24 light weapons, seized during the operation, to the tribal elders.

The meeting was arranged by the local political administration after the Kukikhel tribesmen expressed resentment over the Ghundi operation in which local elders were not taken into confidence.

In Mohmand Agency, Levies personnel and volunteers of Haleemzai Peace Committee demolished the houses of five suspected militants in Roadh Mandi area on Tuesday.The owners of the houses were identified as Saraf Khan, Zawo Jan, Zar Shah, Amir Shah and Akbar Shah.

Earlier, a jirga of Haleemzai tribe decided to demolish the houses of the suspected militants, who were allegedly involved in a bomb blast in the area.

The participants of the jirga said a fine of Rs1 million would be imposed on those tribesmen, who provided shelter to militants.

Addressing the jirga, Haleemzai Peace Committee chief Malik Mohammad Ali said that they would extend full support to security forces and political administration to restore peace in the area.

In this connection, an agreement was also signed by the tribesmen, bounding them to stand united to fight against militants and protect their area.