Several vide shops were ravaged by a group of unidentified armed militants in the southwestern city of Tal in the Hangu district of NWFP. The incident, which took place at midnight on Saturday December 13, invited emergency police action and subsequent rocket attacks on the city.

According to Abdul Munaim Khan, a correspondent for the news agency in Hangu, militants attacked 18 video shops in Tal at around 12 o’clock, on Saturday night. They smashed the content of 10 shops, and later set 8 shops on fire while blowing 2 of them away with explosives. Local police arrived on the scene while the militants were still there and exchange of firing took place between the police and the militants. However, no casualties or arrests were reported and the militants succeeded in getting away.

Shortly after the escape of the militants, two rockets were fired from an unidentified direction on Tal city. One of them fell on a house, causing property damage but no harm to human life. The incident has sent a wave of concern among the citizens and security personnel have been sent on patrolling across the city. The District Police Officer (DPO) of Tal, Mr. Sajjad Khan, told that the situation was under control now and strict security measures have been taken to prevent any such incident in the near future.