LANDI KOTAL (Khyber Agency), July 9: Two people were killed and six others injured as two religious groups clashed in the remote Tirah valley of Khyber Agency on Saturday.

It is learnt that supporters of Lashkar-i-Islam opened fire with heavy weapons when their opponents removed their flag from atop a house in the Bagh locality of Tirah. Lashkar opponents are headed by Said Akbar, a close aide of Pir Saifur Rehman.

The two groups have been at loggerheads over the observance of certain religious rituals.

It is also learnt that the Lashkar leaders had convened a gathering of their supporters in Maidan village to take some vital decisions, including the expulsion of Said Akbar and his supporters from Tirah. The situation in the area was stated to be tense.

The Saturday firing incident in Tirah is the latest between the two groups after their heads Pir Saifur Rehman and Mufti Munir Shakir were expelled from Bara in February in the wake of armed clashes that left at least 32 people dead and around two dozens injured on both sides.

HOUSE DEMOLISHED: A self-proclaimed welfare organisation, Sipah Qaumi Tanzim, on Sunday demolished the houses of Said Wali and Said Muhammad for allegedly molesting a teen-aged boy.