PESHAWAR, Dec 20: A fierce gunbattle between the Al Qaeda escapees and the law enforcement agencies in the Kurram Agency left three more people dead on Thursday, a senior government official said.

The latest killing brought the death toll to Wednesday’s fight following an attempt by the Al Qaeda detainees to escape to 18.

The official said that two Arabs and a Naib Subaidar of Kurram Levy were killed in the Thursday fighting at Narai Tangi in Uch Darra.

The Special Services Group forces joined the army’s regular troops together with the Kurram Levy jawans to flush out Al Qaeda men from a forest where they were holed up, witnesses said.

Eleven of the escapees, the official said, had been recaptured following the gunbattle. Seven Al Qaeda men were still unaccounted for, he added. The forces had recovered a G-3 Rifle that had been snatched by the Al Qadea men from the escorting troops, he said.

Witnesses said that Pakistan army helicopters continued reconnaissance and search operation in the area. “We have cordoned off the entire area and the search is on,” Home & Tribal Affairs Secretary Javed Iqbal told Dawn.

Officials in the Kurram Agency identified the recaptured Al Qaeda men as Abdul Nasir and Muhammad (Syria), Ahmad Salih (Algeria), Ammad Muhammad and Ismail Saeed (Morocco), and Abdul Rahim, Amir Abdullah, Murtaza Ali and Abdullah Muhammad Salih (Saudi Arabia).

One of the wounded Abdul Noor Ibne Ali, an Algerian national, was admitted to a hospital with broken legs. Three Kurram Levy jawans were among the wounded.

About 48 Al Qaeda men of the total 156 captured by the Pakistan authorities on Wednesday had overpowered escorting guards and fled to Arawali in F.R Kurram, 195km from Peshawar.

The Al Qaeda men were buried in Bagzai, Arawali and Narai villages by the locals.