MINGORA, Nov 26: Security forces on Monday claimed killing 20 militants and capturing a number of positions on mountains near the Imam Dehri area. Four members of security forces were also killed in clashes.

Backed by helicopter gunships and artillery, security forces bombed several strongholds of militants in Imam Dehri, Koza Banda, Bara Banda and Ningwalai.

Reports reaching here said that helicopter gunships attacked an eight-vehicle convoy of the militants fleeing the area via Bara Banda-Shakardara road. All the vehicles were destroyed in the attack. However, no exact figures of the militants killed in the attack were available.People in Matta area told Dawn that an important militant commander had been killed. They said that Commander Khan Khatab alias Baba, who was leading the militants in the area, had been killed.

A press release of the Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) said that the mountain positions of the militants in Bara Bande, Kuza Bande, Imam Dheri and Segram had been captured.

It said of the 20 militants killed in the operation on Monday, the bodies of 15 had been recovered. Four soldiers were killed and 14 were injured in Monday’s fighting, it said.

CURFEW RELAXATION: Curfew was relaxed on Monday for four hours, from 8am to 12 noon in the area.

The forces relaxed the curfew again from 2pm till 5pm in the Imam Dehri and some other areas to allow the people to remove the bodies of the militants.