LANDI KOTAL/KOHAT, Oct 25: Eight militants were killed when helicopter gunships pounded militant hideouts in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency on Thursday, sources said.

They said that a minor girl was also killed when a stray mortar shell fell on a house in Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil.

A short statement issued by security forces said that helicopter gunships targeted militant positions in Khurmatung locality of Bara. The shelling resulted in killing of eight militants and destruction of four of their hideouts, the statement claimed.

Information gathered from local sources said that a minor girl was killed and three other members of her family sustained injuries when a mortar shell fell on a house in Akkakhel area early on Thursday morning.

Security forces, during a search operation in Akkakhel, also defused an explosive device planted by unidentified persons along the Frontier Road. A security convoy was the apparent target of the planted device.

In Hangu, a girl was killed and three persons were injured in a bomb blast in Gulshan Colony on Thursday.

Police said that a six-kilogram heavy bomb was planted in the backyard of the house of Mohammad Sharif, a resident of Mishti Sheikhan area of Orakzai Agency.

Four persons identified as Mohammad Sharif, 11-year-old Ayesha, 14-year-old Iqra and 16-year-old Habibullah were injured in the blast. However Ayesha succumbed to her injuries in the district headquarters hospital.

The bomb disposal squad said that it was a time device, which damaged the whole wall and shattered the windowpanes of several nearby houses.

The Hangu City police station registered a case against unidentified terrorists and launched investigations.