KOHAT/PESHAWAR, Oct 6: At least 18 people, a woman and a child among them, were killed in mortar attacks during an armed clash between two communities early on Friday morning over the ownership of a shrine in Orakzai Agency.

Sources said that the sectarian clash, which erupted on Monday, had left 23 people dead and about 30 injured from both sides. Reports said that nine of the dead belonged to the Kurram Agency.

Violent clashes continued throughout the day with rival groups pounding each other’s positions with rockets and mortar shells.

Witnesses said that a group of heavily armed people was trying to dislodge rivals occupying the shrine of Syed Mir Anwar Shah alias Mian Sahib.

NWFP governor’s spokesman Shah Zaman Khan told Dawn in Peshawar that the political administration was trying to negotiate a ceasefire with the help of a tribal jirga.

“The government has stationed paramilitary troops in the area but they will be used as a last resort,” he said, adding that a ceasefire was expected soon.

A senior official said that the conflict was spilling over to other tribal agencies and the adjoining districts.

Rumours of an impending attack caused panic in Hangu which experienced severe sectarian clashes following a suicide bomb attack on a mourners’ procession in March this year.