MIRAMSHAH, July 28: Four people, including two members of Khasadar force, were killed and three others wounded when armed men robbing a bank opened fire here on Wednesday.

Sources said six men entered the Muslim Commercial Bank branch at around 12.30 pm and tried to snatch cash from cashier. They started firing when bank staff and guards resisted them. Those killed were identified as Farooq and Noor Badshah, members of Khasadar force, bank cashier Farooq and Ishaq who worked for a private courier service.

Three people, including bank manager Aftab, were wounded. The exact amount of cash looted by bandits could not be known. However, security officials estimated that about Rs1 million had been taken away by the bandits.

The bank manager told investigators that the armed men were speaking Pushto but switched to Persian when they talked among themselves.

Security officials are of the opinion that the bank robbery could be the work of militants fighting security forces in North Waziristan as they may be in need of cash for carrying out terrorist activities.

Political authorities of the agency have ordered rounding up of Afghan refugees and warned that those found protecting armed men involved in the case would be fined Rs50,000.

Meanwhile, North Waziristan administrator Tariq Hayat has announced Sitara-i-Shujaat for the two Khasadar force men, who lost their lives and Rs120,000 for their families.

ROCKET ATTACK: Suspected militants fired five rockets on a military compound in Miramshah last night. One of the rockets landed on a grid station while another fell close to the army compound set up in a vocational college. No loss of life or property was reported in the incident.

North Waziristan has seen an upsurge in such attacks in recent days following military raids on suspected hideouts of foreign militants and killing of women and children believed to have been members of foreign militants’ family.