SWAT - At least five persons were killed and a house of a journalist was demolished in fresh incidents of violence here on Monday. According to details, three bullets-riddled dead bodies were recovered from Green Chowk and Shorab Khan Chowk. In another incident, miscreants gunned down a former councillor Muhammad Sahin after entering his house at Charbag area, and similarly killed a woman at Mingora. Meanwhile, unknown militants demolished the house of Hameedullah Khan, a correspondent of a daily English newspaper. The brother of the journalist told that the family vacated the house a few days back when the security forces launched an operation there. He said when they returned to their home, it had been demolished by unknown persons. He demanded of the government to compensate them. Agencies add: Since January 1, the militants have killed 25 people, many of them government employees, security or police officials. Some of those killed were beheaded. Most of the killings have been claimed by militants loyal to radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who has links to Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and who has launched a campaign in Swat for the imposition of Sharia law. The bodies of the two civilians shot dead Monday were dumped in the valley's main town, Mingora, a security official said on condition of anonymity. On Sunday, the bodies of the policeman and the paramilitary soldier were also found in public squares in Mingora, while three other bullet-riddled corpses were retrieved in the nearby town of Matta, officials told AFP. The bodies of the policeman and soldier were found hanging from trees, with their severed heads nearby on the ground. A note left nearby warned residents not to remove the bodies before noon Sunday or they would risk the same fate. Ambulances later removed the bodies, residents said. Haji Muslim, a spokesman for Fazlullah, claimed responsibility for Sunday's killings, saying they were carried out in revenge for the recent deaths of five militants killed by security forces.