KHYBER: Terrorists on Monday blew up the house of Awami National Party, Khyber district president Abdur Razzaq Afridi in the restive Tirah valley.

Sources in Bara said that Mr Afridi had been receiving threats from some time to abandon his campaign for peace. They said that his newly-built house in Kalana area was blown up with explosives on Monday morning.

The sources said that terrorists had earlier in 2025 burnt a portion of the house and now the entire structure was destroyed using explosives.

In a statement issued in Bara, Mr Afridi vowed that such coward incidents of terrorism could not deter his resolve to work for lasting peace both in Tirah and Bara.

Meanwhile, negotiations between a jirga of Tirah elders and armed affiliates of proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan continued for second day on Monday to secure the release of an abducted Malakdinkhel elder.

Sources said that no headway could be made during the two days of intense parleys with no information about any conditions set by the banned TTP team for the release of the tribal elder.

Malak Islam Ghani was abducted by the armed men of banned TTP while he was on his was to join the 24-member Tirah jirga, which had been negotiating the timeframe for the evacuation of families from different parts of Tirah prior to the start of a military operation.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2026