SWAT, Feb 7: Two shops and a garage were blown up in Upper Swat’s Chuprial area on Thursday, after the bomb disposal squad failed to defuse explosives in a jeep.

Humayun Khan, an official in the Matta police station, told Dawn that some militants had locked a jeep laden with 700kg of explosives in the garage of a local person, Sayed Karim, who along with his family had shifted to Karachi in the wake of fighting between militants and security forces.

The man after returning from Karachi found the locks of his two shops and the garage changed and he reported it to the Matta police. Police after unlocking the garage found the explosive-laden jeep inside. The bomb disposal squad was called but they could not defuse the explosives. They opted for detonating the explosives and as a result the two shops and the garage were destroyed.

Police have registered an FIR.

Meanwhile, the Kalam-Madian road remained closed due to heavy snowfall and land-sliding at different points.

Residents were confined to their homes and faced shortage of food and other daily-use items.