KOHAT, March 9 At least one passenger was killed and four others, one of them a woman, were injured in a rocket attack in Darra Adamkhel here on Monday.

The militants fired rockets at the Kohat Friendship Tunnel in retaliation to a large-scale crackdown launched against them by the military, which moved into their suspected hideouts with tanks. Three Cobra helicopters also took part in the operation.

A rocket fired by the militants hit two Toyota Hiace commuter vans near the tunnel as a result Hayatullah resident of Hangu district, died on the spot, while four other passengers were wounded.

The injured were shifted to KDA divisional headquarters hospital Kohat.

The military authorities said that the operation had been planned in view of the increasing attacks at the security forces and police and bomb blasts in Kohat and on the Indus Highway in Darra Adamkhel.

The militants came from Khyber and Orakzai agencies and after the strikes vanished into thick forests and mountains.

The security forces entered the mountainous area along the Khyber and Orakzai agencies and targeted the militants' strongholds.

Sources said that the operation was still in progress and might be extended to Orakzai and Khyber agencies.