PARACHINAR/LANDI KOTAL, Sept 16: Seven militants were killed and two others wounded when two groups clashed in Gawaki area of central Kurram Agency, while a soldier died and two others suffered injuries while they were destroying militants' ammunition depot in Jamrud on Friday.

Sources said that in Gawaki area a clash between two militant groups, each led by Quwat Khan and Mullah Tofan, left seven people dead and two others wounded. Both groups are said to have old rivalries.

The security forces had recently claimed they had cleared the Gawaki and other parts of central Kurram of militants.

Meanwhile, officials said that the security forces conducted an operation in Chora village of Jamrud on Friday and destroyed a militant hideout in the area. They said that the forces also recovered an ammunition depot and planted explosives to destroy it when the explosion occurred, leaving one soldier dead and two others injured.

They said that the explosion was so powerful that its sound was heard several kilometers away in Ghundi and other parts of Jamrud.

In Bara tehsil, a 12-year-old girl was critically injured when a mortar shell fired by security forces from Fort Salop fell on a house. In a similar incident, three women were injured when a mortar shell fell on another house in Sipah area on the night between Thursday and Friday.