LANDI KOTAL, March 5: Four militants were killed when rival groups clashed with each other to get control over an important bunker in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency on Monday.

Sources said that Taliban of Tariq Afridi group attacked a bunker of Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) in Dwa Thoe area of the valley. Both the groups traded heavy fire, which resulted in killing of four militants. LI sources in Bara claimed that they not only repulsed the offensive but also killed three of their opponents.

The LI had captured the same post after expelling Taliban from the Kukikhel dominated areas of Tirah valley. Both groups have been fighting with each other since October last year to gain full control of the area.

Taliban had lost most of the areas, they had been occupying after they were expelled from Darra Adamkhel following a military operation about two years ago.

Also, an official of Mehsud Scouts was killed in a blast while headless body of a tribesman was found in Bara on Monday.

Officials said that security forces were conducting a search operation in Naway Kamar area on Sheen Qamar Road when an explosive device planted inside an empty house exploded.

The explosion caused injuries to a soldier, who later succumbed to his wounds in a hospital.

In Akkakhel, local residents found headless body of Tor Mullah Zakhakhel, a tribesman, at a deserted place. Sources said that reason behind beheading the tribesman could not be ascertained immediately.

Meanwhile, Kukikhel volunteers defused an explosive device planted on a roadside in Serhai area on Monday.

Local sources said that the device was spotted minutes before a Kukikhel jirga was held in the area. Nobody has claimed responsibility for planting the improvised explosive device.

However, Taliban of Tariq Afridi group have claimed responsibility for a suicide attack carried out at a LI base in the same region on Friday.

In Landi Kotal, unidentified militants blew up a government primary school on the night between Sunday and Monday.

Officials said that militants planted huge quantity of explosives at Malik Jafar Khan primary school at midnight that exploded later. The blast damaged the building. Nobody has so far claimed responsibility for the blast.