December 22, 2006	Friday	Ziqa'ad 30, 1427

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LANDI KOTAL (Khyber Agency), Dec 21: The ongoing armed clash between two religious groups in the Garhi Qamarkhel area of the Tirah valley, Khyber Agency, claimed another six lives on Thursday.

Sources in the area said activists of the Lashkar-i-Islam and the Ansaar-ul-Islam were targeting houses of their opponents, compelling local people to migrate to safer places.

On Thursday, a jirga of elders and members of the Agency Council from Landi Kotal, Jamrud and Bara met at the Khyber Agency political administration’s Khyber House to discuss how the warring groups could be persuaded for a ceasefire.

The jirga members will meet Senator Hamidullah Jan on Sunday, who will apprise them of his talks with leaders of the two groups.

A 13-member jirga led by Senator Jan went to the Tirah valley on Dec 16 but they returned after Lashkar-i-Islam chief Mangal Bagh refused to meet them.

A jirga member said Bagh had told them that he would not hold talks with a government-sponsored jirga.

The grand jirga of all tribal elders and councillors will again meet on Sunday in Peshawar and will later present their recommendations to the political agent of Khyber Agency.