Source: Daily News

A mortar shell hit a house in a northern valley where Pakistani security forces are battling Islamic militants, killing a family of seven, police said yesterday.

The shell hit in Deolai, a village in the restive Swat valley, an official in the nearby town of Kabbal said.

A man called Mohammed Tahir died along with his wife and five children.

It was unclear who fired the mortar round.

Fresh fighting erupted between Pakistani troops and Taliban militants, leaving 12 civilians and around 15 militants dead.

Two other civilian men died when shells hit their houses in Deolai, while a young boy and a man working in a garden were killed in nearby Matta district, police said.

A man was also killed in crossfire between militants and security forces at a golf course in the town of Kabbal, they said, adding that more than 25 people were also wounded in the fighting.

Militants burned a girls school in the Khwazkhela area, the latest in a string of similar attacks blamed on Islamic fundamentalists opposed to female education.

Trouble flared in Swat on Tuesday when militants abducted 25 members of the security forces. Since then, fighting has reportedly killed 27 rebels and seven troops and raised doubts about the new government’s ability to combat militancy.

The army reported sporadic overnight gunfire in the valley. It didn’t confirm Pakistani media reports of renewed fighting yesterday. A valley-wide curfew was relaxed for two hours before noon to allow residents to buy provisions.

Government officials struck a peace deal with militants in Swat in May, raising hopes that it could curb the growing influence of militant groups through negotiations.

But the US and Nato officials complain that ceasefires and talks across Pakistan’s wild border zone have allowed Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents based there to focus on attacks in neighboring Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, a bicycle bomb outside the Pakistani consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat wounded a police guard and two civilians.

The explosives were attached to a bicycle near a police kiosk outside the consulate, wounding a police guard and a woman and a child. There was no damage to the consulate. Pakistan condemned the bombing.

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Tags: battling Islamic militants, Deolai, mortar shell, northern valley, Pakistani security forces, Police