ALPURI/GHALANAI/KOHAT/ MANSEHRA, Nov 29: Four militants were killed in exchange of fire with security forces in Puran tehsil of Shangla district on Monday, officials said.

They said that all the four persons were wanted in various cases of militancy. They said that security forces were patrolling Alooch area when they saw the militants.  “Soldiers asked them to surrender, but they (militants) refused and opened fire on the patrolling party,” an official said. Security forces killed them in exchange of fire, he added.

The killed militants were identified as Sher Rehman, Saeedullah and Iqbal, all residents of Shangla, and Rahimullah, who belonged to Battagram district.Militants burnt three trucks carrying goods from Afghanistan to tribal areas and kidnapped the drivers in Baizai tehsil of Mohmand Agency on Monday.  The driver and helper of a truck were feared killed when they resisted torching of trucks, a tribesman and official sources said.

The owner of one the trucks, Ameen, told journalists at Mohmand Press Club that the trucks were transporting milk powder, ghee, oil and other things from Afghanistan to the tribal region. The goods and trucks were reduced to ashes when militants set them on fire. The drivers and the helpers were taken away, he said.

Meanwhile, militants blew up another school in Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency on the night between Sunday and Monday. Officials said that militants planted explosives at the building of a primary school in Sandokhel village and blew it up.  Unidentified militants attacked the newly established Baliamina police station in Hangu district near the border of Orakzai Agency with rockets.

Police said that two rockets were fired at Baliamina police station on late Sunday night. However, the rockets missed their target. One of the unexploded rockets was defused by the bomb disposal squad while the other exploded in the nearby fields without causing any damage.

Meanwhile, police arrested 72 suspects and an Afghan terrorist during search operations in Hangu and Kohat districts on Monday.

Police said that 52 suspects were arrested in Kohat while 20 were rounded up from different parts of Hangu and a huge quantity of arms was also seized form them.

During a raid at a house in Asgharo Banda of Hangu and Afghan terrorist identified as Gul Rehman alias Gullo was nabbed with five kilograms of explosive material and fuses used in bomb making, police claimed.In another incident, police arrested the father and brother of an alleged militant commander and seized arms in Shamlai area of Battagram on Monday.

Police and Elite Force raided Shamlai area and arrested Sufi Mohammad Sadiq and his son Khyal Mohammad and shifted them to an undisclosed location for interrogation.Eight hand grenades, a Kalashnikov, a pistol and rounds were also recovered during the pre-dawn raid.

Sanawar Shah, SHO of Shamlai police station, told journalists that the joint raid was carried out to apprehend a militant commander Sabir Sajjad alias Mussbah, who was involved in many subversive activities in Battagram and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.