UPPER DIR: Two Taliban commanders and their four fighters were killed in an armed action taken by a tribal Lashkar in the Doog Darra area of Upper Dir district on Sunday.

The Lashkar was formed in Hayagay Sharqi, and was supported by people of Hayagay Gharbi, Doon, Kilot and Miana Doog villages, after the suicide attack on a local mosque during Friday prayers that killed over 30 people, including several children.

The Lashkar stormed Taliban bunkers in Doog Darra, Salam Bekay, Ghazigay, Shatkas, Panaghar and Maluk Khwar and torched about 20 houses of people who harboured militants.

People from several other villages joined the Lashkar to expel Taliban from their area.

According to local people, both sides were using heavy weapons in fierce clashes between the Lashkar and the Taliban.

Sources said the village force was attacking Taliban positions in Shatkas, Miana and Doog Bala.

Meanwhile, people of Maluk Khwar and Panaghar villages, who were active supporters of the militants, also parted ways with them after the mosque blast and announced support for the tribal Lashkar and vowed to evict militants from the area.

Doog Darra area, it may be mentioned, was attacked by planes in the third week of May.

Two men of the Lashkar identified as Shah Khalid and Mohammad Ayaz were injured in Sunday’s clash.

The militants, holed up in their stronghold of Shatkas and Gazigay, were putting up stiff resistance, the sources said.

Also Monday, the leader of a Taliban faction at odds with Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud denounced Mehsud for staging attacks inside the country _ a sign of rivalries within the collection of groups identified as the Taliban.

In a face-to-face interview with the AP, Qari Zainuddin urged tribal leaders to resist Mehsud and said his fighters _ he claimed to have 3,000 _ would stay neutral if the army launches an operation in South Waziristan, Mehsud’s stronghold.

‘Whatever Baitullah Mehsud and his associates are doing in the name of Islam is not a jihad, and in fact it is rioting and terrorism,’ Zainuddin said. ‘Islam stands for peace, not for terrorism.’

Zainuddin’s long-term motives remain unclear. He insisted he would resist any U.S. attempts to attack Pakistan.

The incident underscored a swing in the national mood towards a more anti-Taliban stance, a shift that comes as suicide attacks have surged and the military wages an offensive in the Swat valley.

DCO Atif-ur-Rehman said some 400 villagers formed a Lashkar and attacked five villages in Doog Darra area.

The militia has occupied three of the villages since Saturday and is trying to push the Taliban out of the other two.

The government has encouraged local people to set up militias to oust Taliban fighters.

‘It is something very positive that tribesmen are standing against the militants. It will discourage the miscreants,’ Rehman said.

He said around 200 militants were putting up stiff resistance in their strongholds surrounded by the villagers.

‘We will send security forces, maybe artillery too, if the villagers ask for reinforcement,’ he said.