November 22, 2008	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 23, 1429

KHAR: Security forces claimed killing 15 militants after planes attacked militants’ hideouts in Damadola, Thanai, Sperai and Kharkai areas in Mamond tehsil and Charmang and Kotki in Nawagai tehsil of Bajaur Agency on Friday.

Troops also used artillery to pound militants’ positions of militants.Some shells hit residential areas, reportedly killing two people.

Meanwhile, death toll in Thursday’s suicide attack on a mosque in the Badan area rose to 12 after three men injured in the blast died.

Assistant Political Agent of Bajaur Mohammad Jamal told Dawn that the chief of the Mamond tribal Lashkar, Malik Rehmatullah, and his 11 relatives had been killed in the suicide attack.

Their bodies were laid to rest in Badan on Friday when amid tight security. Emotional scenes were witnessed when tribesmen lifted the coffins.

The political administration had taken strict security measures for the occassion. After the burial, tribesmen vowed to expel militants from their area and restore peace.

In a related development, outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan’s spokesman Maulvi Omar denied his organisation’s involvement in the suicide attack and said that his men could not even think about carrying out an attack like this in a mosque.

He said: “Taliban do not believe in violence. We want to hold talks because we know that force does not solve any problem.”

He said the government was using the suicide blast as a pretext to attack Taliban fighters.

NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani expressed deep shock and anger over the suicide attack. — Correspondent