SWAT, Oct 28: Security forces, backed by artillery and Cobra helicopters, on Sunday started advancing towards the strongholds of militants and there were reports that at least 10 militants had been killed in Kot and Manglor areas on the Mingora-Kalam road.

Local people feared that casualties could increase because the road leading to the troubled areas had been closed and injured people could not be taken to hospitals for medical aid.

Officials said that militants were offering stiff resistance making it difficult for the security forces to move forward.

A heavy exchange of fire was taking place till late night and the surroundings were reverberating with the sound of explosions and artillery fire.

The militants, meanwhile, claimed to have captured 25 to 30 law-enforcement personnel at different places when troops tried to enter Khwazakhela, considered to be a stronghold of supporters of Maulana Fazlullah. The area is about 27km northeast of the Mingora town.

However, government officials in Peshawar expressed ignorance about the claim. They said that four security personnel, who had received injuries in clashes with the militants, had been taken to the Saidu Sharif hospital.

People in large numbers have started fleeing the troubled area because of intense shelling. Most of them, women and children among them, were seen moving to other places on foot because of lack of transportation and closure of roads.

Plumes of smoke were seen rising from Imam Dehri and adjoining areas, including Bara Banda.

A rocket landed in a mosque at Fizza Gut, a recreational spot about 3km from Mingora, injuring three people, two of them crew members of a private television channel who were staying in a nearby hotel.

“Our forces are on the outskirts of Sangota, but due to stiff resistance by the militants we have yet to secure it and the surrounding areas,” said NWFP home secretary Badshah Gul Wazir in Peshawar. He said gunship helicopters provided cover to ground forces and bombed some pockets of resistance.

According to an ISPR statement, 10 militants were killed in clashes with the security forces near Khwazakhela.

The troops fired artillery and rockets on suspected positions of militants. The compound of a seminary in Imam Dehri, the native village of Maulana Fazlullah, located opposite to Fizza Gut across the River Swat, was also targeted.

“We have just come out of the madressah because a shell has damaged its roof,” said Maulana Muslim Khan, the deputy of Maulana Fazlullah.He told Dawn by telephone that shells had also damaged nearby houses. However, no casualty was reported.

“They have been targeting us as if we belong to the Indian army. Our only demand is enforcement of Sharia in the region,” he said.

Official sources said it was not clear how long the paramilitary forces would take to secure Khwazakhela where police and other law-enforcement personnel are in a police station.

“About 70 of us are stranded inside the police station and we can’t go out for patrol,” an official of the Khwazakhela police station told Dawn by phone. He said they had been waiting for reinforcement from the paramilitary forces to start routine functions.

Earlier in the day, there were reports that militants had started gathering at the Sambat Chowk in the Matta tehsil and they intended to attack the Khwazakhela police station. Later, reports said that they had dropped the plan.

Police have already vacated the Charbagh police station in whose jurisdiction Manglor, Kot, Sangota and some other troubled areas are situated.

On Sunday morning, militants blew up an abandoned police post in Sairteligram on the Malam Jabba road.

Militants continue to control the Matta tehsil and they have set up a checkpost in Pir Kalay to check the identity of people passing by the area.

A girls’ missionary school in Sangota caught fire after a shell hit the building. Sources said the fire brigade could not reach the site because the main road was closed. The fire had not been extinguished till the filing of this report.

Some local people said the injured and the dead in Kot and Manglor areas included non-combatants. They said the bodies and the injured people had been kept in schools because the road leading to hospitals was closed.