Five soldiers were killed on Monday in a suicide bombing at an army check post in Swat valley, security officials said. "A suicide bomber riding a red colour mini truck hit the post near Gashkor village. Five soldiers were killed while five more troops and three civilians were injured in the attack," district police chief Dilawar Bangash said.
Colonel Nadeem Ahmad, local army spokesman in the district, confirmed the incident and said the blast completely destroyed the security post. According to Ahmad, helicopter gunships were separately targeting militant positions in the Kabal area of Swat, where government forces have been battling the followers of a radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah for more than a year. "We have some reports of casualties on the militants' side in the strikes but the numbers are yet to be ascertained."