By Our Correspondent MARDAN, Aug 19: A militant was killed and two passers-by were injured during a search operation in Matha Speen Khak area of Katlang tehsil here on Wednesday, sources said.

They said that security forces and police on a tip-off about presence of a militant lunched a joint search operation in the area.

They said that the militant was killed when he came out of his house and tried to flee the area. The killed man was identified as Fazal Qadir, son of Gul Qadir.

Two passers-by -- Liaqat Ali and his son Junaid -- also received injuries during the operation, sources added.The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital while the body of the militant was taken to Jabbar police station. Sources said that the killed militant was having links with a banned organisation.

Three hand grenades and a large number of ammunition were recovered from the house of Fazal Qadir.

In another incident, a shopkeeper was shot dead allegedly by four persons in Kot Ismialzai here on Thursday.

Saeed Akhthar, the brother of the deceased, told police that his bother Khalid Akhthar was sitting in his shop when Tila Mohammad, Arshad, Arif and Zahid came there and opened firing on him, killing him on the spot.

The accused managed to escape after committing the crime, he said. The Gari Kapora police lodged FIR against the four accused, who are real brothers, and started investigation.

Police said that motive behind the murder was an old enmity between the two families.