PESHAWAR, July 15: The wife of a Frontier Corps soldier and their three children were killed when a mortar shell hit their house in Akakhail area adjacent to Khyber Agency on Sunday morning.

The family members of Doulat Mir were asleep when the shell fired from an unknown place hit the house. Mir was injured.

Those killed were identified as Syed Umar (6), Hamida (3), one-year-old Nadia and their mother Mahjabeen.

Police and officials of the political administration said they knew nothing about the incident because it had taken place outside of their jurisdiction.

A military operation against militants has been going on in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency for some time. It could not be ascertained if the shelling was carried out by security forces or by militants.

Relatives of the victims held a protest demonstration outside the Peshawar Press Club.

They placed the bodies on Sher Shah Suri Road and blocked it for traffic.

They said that shells fired from Khyber Agency had been regularly hitting their area and killing people.

They said that if the government could not protect its citizen it had no right to rule.

They also warned of taking up arms if the government failed to prevent such incidents.

Agencies add: The pre-dawn incident took place in an area where the military is fighting against local warlord Mangal Bagh and his Lashkar-i-Islam faction.

A senior police officer told AFP that it was not yet clear who fired the mortar but troops and Mangal Bagh’s fighters exchange fire on a daily basis.

A spokesman for the Frontier Crops said in fact it were the terrorists who fired mortars on security forces.

Any damage caused to civilians was because of terrorists firing.

The spokesman said that reports involving FC in the mortar attack were wrong and baseless.