KOHAT, March 20: Eight tribesmen were injured when a passenger van came under fire on the Kurram Agency Highway in Kotki area of the Hangu town on Sunday.

“Militants standing beside a white car parked on the roadside opened indiscriminate fire at our van and then fled.

''The four attackers carried Kalashnikovs. I do not remember what happened afterwards. I found myself in the Hangu district headquarters hospital,” the injured driver, Askar Ali, told police.

The Saddar police said that they had recorded the statements of the injured tribesmen and registered an FIR on the report of the driver against unidentified terrorists, under Sections 324 and 427 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act.

Police said that security forces carried out an operation in the area and took four suspected militants into custody.

Officials said it was not clear whether the attackers had come from Hangu or chased the passenger van from Thall tehsil. An official said the attack had taken place in the city despite checkpoints set up in the area.

In a similar ambush in Mamo Khwar area on March 13, militants had killed 11 passengers going to Peshawar from Kurram Agency. Three militants were killed in the encounter that took place after the attack.