PARACHINAR / KOHAT, May 23: About 20 militants and four security personnel, an army captain among them, were killed in a clash in central Kurram tribal region and three militant ‘commanders’ were killed in an air attack in Darra Adamkhel on Thursday.

A group of militants attacked security personnel in the Zara Mella area of Parachamkani in central Kurram. Captain Riaz and three soldiers were killed and 16 injured in the attack.

Security forces struck back and killed 20 militants and injured several others.

An operation has been launched in the Attahmai area and forces claimed to have made some progress.

Sources said that about 10,000 families had left their homes in central Kurram and taken refuge in Marghai Chena, Miro Kas and Old Bagzai camp in lower Kurram. Hundreds of people have moved to Tal, Hangu, Kohat, Peshawar and other areas.

Separately, three leading militants belonging to the Tariq Afridi group of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan were killed when military planes pounded their hideouts in Darra Adamkhel.

The planes targeted militants’ positions in Khwangi on the borders of Khyber Agency. Two bombs destroyed one of the hideouts.

Officials identified two of the militants killed in the attack as Tor Khalifa and Zubair.

Meanwhile, militants kidnapped a hakeem from his clinic in the Gedar Klay area of Kohat on Thursday.

Naveed, a resident of Abbottabad, has been running the clinic for several years.

The kidnappers called his family and asked for payment of Rs1 million as ransom within three days.