PESHAWAR, Aug 26: The standoff between local militants and tribesmen intensified after a jirga failed on Sunday to secure release of a man who was picked up by the former from the town on Saturday last amid reports that rival factions have taken positions.

The kidnapped tribesman, Sabir, had turned his loaded gun on the militants during a jirga on Friday last.

Elders were trying to persuade both sides to vacate their positions and ease tension in the town, some 35 kilometres south of Peshawar.

Jirga participants said that the militants had sought guarantees from the Akhorwal tribesmen that they would neither misbehave with them nor would attack their people. But the tribesmen refused to furnish any guarantee in this regard.

When talks failed, militants and Akhorwal tribesmen took positions on the hilltops.

Early this month the militants had clashed with the Qasimkhel tribesmen in Darra town in which three people were killed.

Militants are still occupying houses of the tribesmen and had taken away household items.

Sources said that two sub-clans of the Akhorwal tribe had a dispute over the ownership of coal mines.

Few days back the militants intervened into the issue and forced both sides to reopen coal mines.

The militants also brought trucks to forcefully load coal on them.

Witnesses said that unwarranted attitude of the militants irritated the rival clans and asked gun brandishing people not to intervene in their dispute.

Later, the militants picked up one tribesman in the area for his action which triggered tension.

A joint jirga of the five main tribes of Darra Adamkhel held on Sunday to resolve the dispute between the militants and the Akhorwal tribesmen and avert clash between the two sides, but talks remained inconclusive.

Sources said that the local administration had banned excavation of coal from the mines about a month ago due to the ongoing dispute between Pirwalkhel and Timerkhel, two sub-clans of main Akhorwal tribes.