KOHAT/PESHAWAR, July 10: A soldier was killed and 19 people, 13 of them security personnel, were injured in attacks in the NWFP and the tribal areas on Tuesday.

The soldier died after some people lobbed a grenade on a military checkpoint in Kohat.

In Battagram district, rioters set ablaze offices of two international relief organisations, officials said.

The army established temporary checkpoints in many parts of Kohat on Monday in view of the Lal Masjid saga.

Kohat DCO Mohammad Iqbal told Dawn that the grenade was lobbed on the checkpoint from behind the bushes, killing Abdul Ghaffar. The injured, Abdul Vaqar and Naik Amjad, were taken to the Combined Military Hospital.

Police and military personnel cordoned off the area after the incident. A blast was also reported in a populated area along the canal road after which security was put on high alert.

In Peshawar, provincial police chief Sharif Virk termed the incidents a reaction to the storming of the Lal Masjid-Jamia Hafsa compound, adding that security had been beefed up across the province to avert any untoward incident.

“Except Lower Dir and Battagram, the overall situation in the province is under control,” said Mr Virk. He said the civil administration had sufficient resources to cope with the law and order situation and did not need the support of the army.

Armed tribesmen from Kala Dhaka and Battagram attacked offices of the US-based Care International and the French Red Crescent in the Battagram town and blocked the Karakoram Highway. The tribesmen took positions at hilltops in groups and fired shots on passenger vehicles intermittently, residents said.

Witnesses told Dawn by telephone that a mob stormed the relief agencies’ offices in Battagram and looted goods stored for earthquake-hit people. The office of the French Red Crescent was completely burnt and a portion of the Care International office was damaged.

The witnesses said armed men shot at soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary, injuring one of them. Workers of the relief organisations had vacated their offices before the attack. Their expatriate staff had already left the area.

A resident of Battagram said that after damaging the humanitarian organisations’ offices, armed men blocked the Karakoram Highway at Kass Pul and took positions on hilltops.

They fired on vehicles on the highway, disrupting traffic. Police and paramilitary forces disappeared from the scene and confined their movement to their checkposts.

“The area is sensitive and it’s very difficult for security forces to dislodge armed men from their positions,” said Aminul Haq, district coordination officer for Battagram.

The highway was opened at about 4:30pm when armed men abandoned their positions after negotiations with District Nazim Ihsanullah and other officials.

In the Lower Dir district, 10 policemen were injured in two bomb blasts.

Timergara, the district headquarters, remained tense and the army began patrolling on roads.

Officials said a vehicle carrying a police contingent was hit by an improvised explosive device in the Khal area, injuring ASI Tahir Khan and four constables. They were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital.

Another roadside explosion in the area damaged a van of the special branch of police, which was returning from the Shandoor festival in Chitral to Peshawar. Officials said DSP Ihsan and four others were injured.

In the restive Bajaur Agency, six people were injured in an explosion when a jeep, going to Peshawar from Bajaur Agency, hit an explosive device. Officials said the device was exploded by remote control.

Militants in the agency have been threatening suicide attacks to avenge the Lal Masjid operation.

Army troops have been dispatched to the Swat district and troops have started patrolling in Mingora town. Security forces have occupied a college building in Matta and also are stationed in the building of the Saidu Sharif airport. Helicopters were seen flying over the area. Sources said several areas of the district had been declared sensitive.

Foreign relief organisations have evacuated their staff from the quake-hit Mansehra district and authorities have deployed paramilitary forces and police in the Ghazi Kot town, which houses offices of various NGOs.

A grenade was lobbed at a police post in the Tajazai area in Ghaznikhel on Monday night.