LANDI KOTAL (Khyber Agency), Aug 29: At least six people were killed and three others were injured in a gunfight between two sectarian groups in the remote Tirah Valley of the Khyber Agency.

Sources in Mehraban Kelli cited intercepted wireless messages and said that heavy fighting broke out on Monday night when armed supporters of Ansaarul Islam attacked a bunker of the Lashkar-i-Islam in Serai Kandao near the Maidan area.

The Ansaarul Islam is based in Maidan, while the Lashkar-i-Islam’s stronghold is Gogrina.

The sources said that both groups used heavy weapons and clashes continued till dawn on Tuesday, in which at least six people were killed.

It was learnt that the self-proclaimed Amir of Lashkar-i-Islam, Mangal Bagh, had shifted his base from Gogrina to the Warsak area and that he was personally supervising his force.

Both groups have repeatedly vowed on their illegal FM radio stations to purge the area of ‘anti-social elements’ and had established bunkers in a number of localities in the Tirah Valley.

In a separate incident, a Lashkar-i-Islam supporter was killed and another injured near Arjali Khwar in Bara on Monday in an attack by supporters of the rival group.