LANDI KOTAL, Aug 18: Two militants and as many children were killed while at least five houses were set ablaze in different incidents in Bara and Tirah valley of Khyber Agency on Thursday.

Sources said that bullet-riddled body of a Taliban commander, Ali Akbar alias Skarwata, was found in fields in Akkakhel area on Thursday morning.

In another incident in the same area, two children were killed and eight people received injuries when a stray mortar shell hit a house. The injured included children and women.

Security forces demolished a sanctuary of banned militant organisation Lashkar-i-Islam in the same locality. More than a dozen government schools and almost half a dozen link bridges have been destroyed in the area during the last few months.

Sources said that Taliban beheaded a Lashkar-i-Islam supporter, belonging to Qmbarkhel tribe, in Tirah valley.

They said that Taliban put on fire at least five houses of their opponents in Kukikhel dominated areas of Mehraban Kallay and Zarmanza. The residence of a former Lashkar-i-Islam sympathiser, Haji Shala Baz, who was killed by his own group on charges of assisting its opponents, was also among the torched houses.

There were also reports about fierce gun-battle between Taliban and LI in Mehraban Kallay, Malikdin khel and Qambarkhel areas of Tirah. However, no casualties were reported from these areas.—Correspondent