KOHAT (Kachai), March 28: The ongoing clash between two tribes of Kohat and Orakzai Agency has caused large-scale destruction in the region, schools and hospitals have been closed and residents are migrating to safer areas.

“Due to the battle between the residents of Kohat and the heavily armed Mishti tribesmen of Orakzai Agency, there is acute shortage of food and medical facilities in the area as the administration has not sent any relief to the dislocated people and those who are reluctant to leave their houses,” people told Dawn here.

The police were afraid of entering the ‘flashpoint’ and were stationed at the main Kohat-Hangu road “watching the destruction and listening to the sounds of blasts”. A dozen security officials of the Frontier Constabulary, posted at the Kachai Fort, were trapped inside for many days.About 200 families have migrated to safer places from the affected parts of Kachai including Landi Kachai and Mir Asghar Mela. “The displaced people are waiting for arrival of the army in the area to take action against the Mishti tribe,” a local said.

Maulana Syed Qaisar Abbas, a religious scholar of the area, told Dawn that the rival tribesmen were continuously using missiles, rockets and other heavy weapons against each other. “The tribesmen have huge quantity of lethal weapons,” he said, adding that areas of Kohat were being targeted regularly from the south by the Shahu tribe of Hangu district and from north by the Mishti tribesmen.

“We were discussing the situation when five rockets hit the nearby houses in Landi Kachai and two hit the mosque in which we were sitting,” he said narrating a recent incident. “A large crack appeared in the wall of the mosque after the blast. A rocket fell inside a trench, built by the local people to stop the Mishti tribesmen, and killed nine people.”

Mr Abbas alleged that the tribesmen had been joined by foreign militants and local Taliban, trained by Al Qaeda. He said that on Wednesday night about 1,000 tribesmen came down from the mountains to check casualties in Mir Asghar Mela, Landi Kachai, Hassan Khel and Essa Khel areas and returned before dawn. He said it was not possible for the local people to stop the well-equipped tribesmen and the government should immediately send the army in the region to stop the fighting.

Meanwhile, forests at the surrounding mountains were seen on fire and smoke was coming out from fields and houses as people were fleeing for shelter.