LANDI KOTAL/DERA ISAMIL KHAN, March 3: Four persons were killed and two others received injuries in clashes between two rival groups in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency on Saturday.

Sources said that armed activists of Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) attacked a bunker of Tawheedul Islam (TI), its rival group, early in the morning. The exchange of fire resulted in killing of four LI activists and injuries to two TI volunteers.

In Sipah area of Bara, unidentified persons torched the house of Haji Khiyal Akbar, a local tribal elder. The house, which had been vacated some time ago owing to the ongoing military operation, was completely gutted.In the same vicinity, armed men took away the doors and windows of the house of Niaz Mat Shah, younger brother of Haji Khiyal Akbar.

Meanwhile, LI commander Said Anwar, who was critically injured in Friday’s suicide attack in Tirah, died of his wounds in a private clinic in Mehraban Kallay.

Sources in the area said that another LI commander Meera Khan Shalobar was also among the dead.

A spokesperson for Taliban in the area told journalists by telephone that only six or seven LI activists were killed in the Friday’s suicide attack. Media organisations, mostly foreign, had placed the dead figure at 22.

Officials at Torkham border said on Saturday that an American surveillance aircraft violated Pakistani air spare early in the morning and flew back to Afghanistan after flying over the border areas for around four minutes.

The aircraft intrusion caused fear and panic among the people residing in the area. In Dera Isamil Khan, a man was killed and three others were injured when a hand grenade went off in a scrap shop in Kot Zafar Firdosi area of tehsil Kulachi on Saturday.

According to Kulachi police station, a hand grenade, lying in the scrap at the shop, exploded with a big bang at around 6:30pm.

As a result, the shopkeeper, Sabir Zaman, was killed on the spot, while three others were wounded.

The injured were taken to district headquarters hospital where doctors said that they condition was stable.