WANA, March 30: Clashes between militant groups in South Waziristan Agency claimed at least 14 lives, two children among them, on Friday amid reports that troops had pounded positions of foreign combatants with artillery in Shin Warsak area.

Two soldiers of the Special Operations Group of the Frontier Corps were also reported to have been killed and four others wounded.

AFP news agency quoted Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao as saying that 54 people had been killed on Friday and two on Thursday. The dead included 45 foreigners, he said.

Officials of Inter-Services Public relations (ISPR) in Peshawar were not available for comments.

Official sources said a mortar shell hit the home of one Qimat Khan Sarkikhel in Ghwakha area, killing the two children.

Security officials said army fired artillery from the brigade headquarters in Zari Noor Colony and pounded hilltops in Shin Warsak area.

They said tribesmen and supporters of militant commander Maulvi Nazir, in coordination with the security forces, had dislodged foreigners from the hilltops and captured bunkers after heavy artillery shelling.

They said the security forces had provided human and material assistance to the group which had launched a campaign against the foreigners, particularly Uzbeks.

They said the army had fired artillery in retaliation and the security forces had entered Shin Warsak to assist the pro-government tribesmen.

The sources said the clashes intensified at about 2pm on Friday and the rival groups targeted each other’s positions with mortars and rockets in Azam Warsak, Jaghundai, Kalosha, Shin Warsak and Ghwakha areas.

They said 12 combatants, seven of them foreigners, had been killed. The foreigners were hiding in a government school. At least 15 people from both sides were wounded in the gunbattle.

Commander Nazir’s supporters claimed to have captured four foreigners.

Militant commander Maulvi Sharif Yargulkhel, a close associate of Noor Islam, was injured and brought to the Agency Headquarters Hospital in Wana. Another militant commander, Amir Mohammad, was also wounded.

Displacement of non-combatants was reported from the area.

Residents said that the situation in Wana was tense and masked men had set up pickets on roads leading to the town, which is under the influence of the Nazir group.