KOHAT, Sept 7: A student was killed and at least ten others received injuries when helicopter gunships pounded a seminary in Sheraki area of Darra Adamkhel on Sunday.

Eyewitnesses said that the seminary came under attack when the boys were busy in their lessons of learning Qurran by heart in Tandi Kalay of Sheraki.

The ages of the injured were stated to be between 7 and 16 years.

The rescue operation was delayed because of the road closure in Darra Adam Khel. Eight of the injured boys were shifted to KDA Divisional Headquarters Hospital and two of them were taken to Peshawar in serious condition.

An elder of the area while quoting a doctor said that four boys died and 25 were injured but the report could not be confirmed from other sources.

The injured shifted to KDA hospital Kohat were identified as Hafiz Bilal, Hafiz Saqib, Mohammad Rehman, Hafiz Laiq Shah, Sakhir Rehman, Hafiz Arshad, Naheed Rehman and Abdul Qadir.

The angry tribesmen condemned the strike at the seminary and criticised both the security agencies and the militants for killing innocent people and causing so miseries to the locals.

KIDNAPPED CADETS: Taliban of Darra Adam Khel said that 30 kidnapped cadets of Police Training College, Hangu, were in their custody and kept at different places in Orakzai Agency.

A Taliban spokesman told Dawn on Sunday that they would start killing the cadets if government did not release their arrested companions.

The cadets went missing while on way from Peshawar to their college in Hangu on Wednesday last.

The three drivers of the passenger coaches who were carrying them were released by the militants. The drivers later informed the authorities about the incident.

It may be recalled that the fate of more than 18 remaining government servants who were kidnapped from Doaba and Zargari areas of Hangu district during operation still hangs in the balance after passage of 59 days. One of them was killed and his dead body was thrown in the fields a week later after the start of operation on July 10, 2008.