Police kill militants in four-hour gun battle in Peshawar

District police chief says heavily armed militants attacked local police in Swabi

PESHAWAR: Four militants and one policeman were killed during a four-hour shootout in Peshawar on Tuesday, officials said.

Heavily armed militants attacked local police in the Shawa area of Swabi district, occupying a house and trading fire with officers for nearly four hours, district police chief Muhammad Saeed Khan told AFP.

"Four militants were killed and a policeman was martyred," Khan said, adding that six other policemen were wounded.

Local government officials confirmed the incident.

Pakistan Army have been engaged in a full-scale offensive against Taliban and other militants in North Waziristan and Khyber tribal districts since earlier last year.

The country has stepped up its fight against militants since Taliban gunmen massacred more than 150 people, most of them children, at a school in Peshawar in December.

Attacks in general have decreased since the offensive but security forces still face frequent assaults.