LANDI KOTAL, July 28: With sporadic gunfire continuing between rival religious groups, the situation remained tense in the Narhao-Baagh area of Tirah valley in the Khyber Agency.
Sources in Bara tehsil said that activists of the Tanzim Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (Pir Abdul Qadir group) had taken into custody 37 armed men of Haji Namdar organization, Amr Bil Maroof Wa Nehee Anil Munkar after an armed clash which lasted more than 16 hours.
The captured men included a brother and two first cousins of Haji Namdar and a naib Ameer of his organization. They had earlier taken shelter at the Laley Kas mosque near the Maidan in the Qambarkhel area.
Activists of Pir Abdul Qadir group laid siege to the mosque on Tuesday evening and asked the people inside to surrender. The occupants of the mosque who were armed with heavy weapons instead opened fire on them, which continued till Wednesday noon. But after their ammunitions were exhausted, they were captured by the Pir group.
Earlier on Monday, Haji Namdar had kidnapped one Maulvi Iqbal Shah, the prayer leader of the said mosque. The supporters of Pir Abdul Qadir appointed Maulvi Iqbal Shah as Pesh Imam of the Laley Kas mosque some time back.
Haji Namdar had also reportedly shifted to Bootan village near the Aurakzai Agency after the capture of his colleagues, including his close relatives. No further loss of human life was reported after the Tuesday incident of shelling of the house of Mohammad Noor in which four minors were killed.
Meanwhile, activists of Pir Abdul Qadir group in the Sheikh Malkhel tribe in Bara tehsil had convened a grand jirga to devise their future plan of action.
Sources in Bara said that the jirga might announce taking up arms against the supporters of Haji Namdar in the Bar Qambar Khel area in Bara tehsil. It was also learnt that Haji Namdar had on Tuesday turned down the mediation offer by the elders of various Afridi elders living in the area.
