Military launches operation in Kabal

MINGORA - Nearly 70 persons including 40 militants, 11 security forces personnel and eight civilians were killed and 45 injured in three acts of violence in Swat District on Saturday.
The officials said that the security forces during an offensive in Kabal killed 40 militants when they succeeded in repulsing a severe Taliban attack against the armed forces camps.
Nine including three policemen were killed in a suicide attack on a police station in Charbagh area of Swat. Three policemen were also killed when miscreants attacked a police mobile van.
The first tragic incident occurred in early hours of Saturday when a suicide bomber attacked a police station in his explosive-packed jeep at Kabal town. The suicide explosion occurred soon after the expiry of curfew hours and it caused widespread destruction in the town.
The police station, which is surrounded by huge residential and commercial buildings, was totally destroyed and its portions were razed to the ground. The officials confirmed death of nine persons including three policemen and injuries to three others. Six civilians also killed in the attack.
In the daylong clashes, a key Taliban commander, eight civilians and 40 Taliban were killed, while four link bridges were also destroyed in Kabal. The ISPR said the operation would continue until achieving its desired results. Names of three security forces men, out of the eleven killed, have been identified as Constable Ali Said, resident of Badraga Malakand Agency, Perviz and Rehmat Ali residents of Tangi village District Charsadda, Hawaldar Mohammad Bilal, Ali Asghar, Ashraf and Javed. Two civilians including Umer Hayat and a young boy were killed in the attacks.
The injured security forces men were identified as Captain Younas and Lieutenant Izzat Khan, Hevaldar Qadir, Afzal, Khalid, Naib Subedar Mohammad Ali, Iqbal, Naek Sher Alam, Altaf and Sarwar, Bahrul Hayat, Mohammad Rashid, Said Karim, Fakhar Zaman, Aziz Rehman, Mohammad Siraj, Mohammad Saeed, Shahid, Rizwan, Ajmir Shah, Amir Nawab and Mian Gul Badshah.
Furthermore, 11 civilians were also injured that included Quresh, Mohammad Ayub Khan, Amina, Hameeda, Aimal Khan, Hussain Zada, Umer Farooq, Rabia, Anwar Ali, Ulfat Bibi, Attaur Rehman and Mohammad Ali. All the injured were shifted to nearby hospitals where the government also declared emergency.   
The eyewitnesses termed the Saturday morning suicide attack as the worst after eruption of clashes between the NWFP Government and the Taliban militants in July last, which damaged scores of shops and houses in Charbagh. Soon after the explosion high ranking civil and police officers rushed to the site and supervised the rescue activities.