LANDI KOTAL, Jan 23: Seven more people were killed and several others injured as fierce gun battle between two rival groups continued for the fourth day in the Tirah valley on Friday.

According to reports received from the Tirah valley of the Khyber Agency, the death toll in the clashes between activists of the Ansaarul Islam and Qamberkhel tribesmen reached 12. Sources said the latest casualties were the result of rocket attacks by the rival groups on each other’s positions.

They said armed volunteers of the Qambarkhel tribe, reportedly backed by the Lashkar-i-Islam of Mangal Bagh, and the Ansaarul Islam activists targeted each other’s positions with heavy and light weapons. Dozens of houses belonging to supporters of the two groups were also torched and destroyed in the tribal belt.

Sources in Bara said Ansaarul Islam’s rival faction Lashkar-i-Islam had also dispatched its armed volunteers to the area to assist the Qambarkhel tribe against Ansaarul Islam.—Correspondent