KOHAT, March 26: At least five people have been killed and seven others injured in fierce clashes between two groups of people in the district of Kohat.

Sources said on Wednesday that fighting between the Misthi tribe of the Orakzai agency and the Kachai people of Kohat had been going on for four days and the rivals were using mortars, anti-aircraft guns and missiles against each other.

Meanwhile, a combined peace jirga of elders from Kohat, Hangu and Orakzai agency has been summoned in Hangu on Thursday to resolve a dispute over the site of Nauroze.

Sources said the jirga would also discuss causes of a clash in a jirga in Kachai on Friday which left 17 people dead.

According to the sources, former chief justice of the Peshawar High Court, Justice Syed Ibn-e-Ali, will lead the Kohat side in the jirga.

Talking to Dawn, Justice Ali said the jirga would try to broker a peace deal. He called for merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into settled districts and launching an operation in the area for seizing heavy artillery and explosives.

He said only a few people were involved in disrupting peace in the region who should be severely dealt with.

The president of the Muttahida Bangash Organisation, Taj Mohammad Bangash, has given a one-week deadline to the government to end the fighting in the region. He said in a statement that if the government failed to restore peace, the organisation would take action on its own.

He called for immediate repatriation of Afghan refugees who he said were involved in acts of terrorism and criminal activities in the area.