Officials said a market, five hideouts of militants and four vehicles were also destroyed. The gunship helicopters targeted strongholds of the Taliban in Anjani, Stori Khel and Sultanzai areas of lower Orakzai Agency.

Meanwhile, two militants were killed when a bomb they were planting in the Zargari area of Hangu exploded prematurely early Friday morning.

The 10-kilogramme time bomb was being planted near a camp set up for internally displaced people. According to investigators, the device might have gone off when the militants were fixing time.

Residents said the militants belonged to Zargari and Doaba areas of Hangu.

ROCKET ATTACK

Five rockets purportedly fired by militants landed in a graveyard in Darra Adamkhel on Friday.

Officials claimed that security checkposts in the Akhorwal area were the target. Security forces retaliated with artillery and machinegun fire targeting suspected militant hideouts in Akhorwal.

Meanwhile, the Gumbat police are searching for relatives of a woman whose bullet-riddled body was found in a village near the Rawalpindi road the other day.