KALAYA, March 29 Clashes between troops and militants continued in Mero Bek area of Lower Orakzai on Monday and security officials claimed to have killed eight militants and captured four others.

Sources said that both sides used heavy weapons in the clashes.

Officials claimed that 134 militants had been killed and 84 wounded in clashes over the past few days.

Meanwhile, a rocket hit the house of one Shaheedan Khan in Ferozkhel area which left seven people, five of them women, injured. The injured were taken to a government hospital in Kalaya.

Local Taliban claimed to have regained control of several villages, including Gedara and Hashmet Khan Kali.

The clashes have sparked a large-scale displacement of people from Kalaya and other areas of Orakzai.

Official sources said that more than 32,000 people had reached Hangu in four days. About 1,000 people have fled the adjacent areas in Khyber agency.

Also on Monday, four headless bodies were found in Ghalju area. Their identity could not be ascertained.

In another incident, five policemen were injured when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle on the Hangu bypass road.

The injured were identified as Abul Raouf, Ajmal Khan, Fermanullah, Shereen Khan and Saleem.