- Photo by AFP

KOHAT: A suspected militant was killed as security forces and police shot at his group after being attacked by hand grenades in Mandakhel village of Kohat tehsil on Thursday.

Two security personnel suffered wounds in the attack.

Officials claimed that the killed suspect, Noor Mohammad, his father Faqeer Mohammad and uncle Qari Yousuf were involved in attacks on security forces and blowing up schools, electricity pylons and government installations.

They said during a joint operation, security forces and police destroyed the house of local Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan commander Yousuf Mullah in Mandakhel village.

According to them, law-enforcers later cordoned off the area on the tip-off about the presence of suspected militants. There followed hand grenade attack by suspected militants on them leaving two security personnel wounded.

Security forces fired gunshots at the attackers killing suspect Noor Mohammad. They later arrested 53 suspected militants and seized four hand grenades, two small machine guns, 18 shot guns, 14 rifles, five pistols and one revolver.

The arrested men were later shifted to unidentified location for interrogation after registration of cases against them in the local police station.

Meanwhile, two watchmen of a graveyard were gunned down in Landi Kotal tehsil of Khyber Agency on Wednesday night.

Local officials said bodies of Azeem and Niaz Amin were found near the Peerokhel graveyard, adding that the two were severely tortured before being shot dead at point-blank range.

A local militant group, Abdullah Ezaam Brigade, claimed responsibility for the killings.

Family of local MNA Noorul Haq Qadri had deputed two watchmen at the Peerokhel graveyard after suspected militants blew up graves of their four members in January last year.

Explosive devices were also planted alongside the same graves on Wednesday night but the khasadar force defused them.

In another incident, unidentified people destroyed the newly-built house of a transporter in Alamkhano area of Landi Kotal tehsil on Wednesday night.

The owner of the house, Gul Mohammad, is said to be a supplier of goods to Nato forces in Afghanistan.

Suspected militants targeted four such transporters in the area over the last three weeks.

Meanwhile, security forces and local political administration impounded at least 10 private containers on Torkhum border on Thursday for secretly transporting goods to Nato forces in Afghanistan in the guise of imported goods under the Afghan Transit Trade Treaty.

Officials said containers were seized and shifted to Landi Kotal army camp. They refused to provide further details.

During the random inspection of Afghanistan-bound containers by security forces and local administration, vehicular traffic remained suspended for several hours on the border inconveniencing road users.