Miran Shah, 20 August (AKI/DAWN) - Seven people, including three women and two children, were killed and eight others injured after Pakistani helicopter gunships attacked suspected militant positions in the town of Mirali in Pakistan's tribal area of North Waziristan, local people said.

However, the director-general of Pakistan's military inter-services public relations Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad claimed that 15 militants, most of them foreigners, were killed in the operation. Citing intelligence reports, he said two militant hideouts near Mirali were targeted by helicopters.

“Two women who were inside the compounds were also killed,” Arshad said. He, however, denied that any other non-combatants had been killed in the early morning strike.

Eyewitnesses said intense shelling from four helicopters caused considerable damage in three villages - Eisuri, Hurmez and Khushali. Roads were blocked in the region and security forces laid siege to nearby villages.

Local people in Mirali told the Pakistani daily Dawn by telephone that three women, two children and two men had been killed and eight others, including women and children, were injured in the strike. The injured were taken to a government hospital in the town.

Arshad said nothing was known about the owners of the compounds, which were used to harbour foreign and local militants. He said militants had taken shelter in the compounds after attacking security forces on Saturday night.

Four soldiers were killed and three others injured in separate attacks on security forces in the troubled agency on Saturday night.

They said the bomb disposal squad defused another bomb. Eighteen people were arrested by the political authorities.