LANDI KOTAL/PARACHINAR, July 14: A Tribal elder was killed and his brother received critical injuries in a remote controlled blast in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency on Saturday.

Sources said that a jirga of Kamarkhel tribe was in progress in Takhtaki village when an explosive device concealed in a sack exploded. Tribal elder Rasheed Khan, who was also head of a local peace committee, was killed while his younger brother was critically wounded in the blast, they added.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the explosion. The Kamarkhel tribe has maintained its neutrality in its area since long as it has not allowed so far any militant group to either take shelter or establish hideouts in Takhtaki.

Meanwhile, members of banned militant organisation Lashkar-i-Islam torched at least three houses of Zakhakhel elders and two shops in Matray area of Bazaar Zakhakhel. The inmates of the affected houses had left the area since long owing to armed clashes between Lashkar-i-Islam and its opponents.

Also, unidentified persons dynamited the house of Meena Baz, a tribal elder, in Bango village in Zaodin area. Nobody was hurt in the explosion as the house was empty.

In Kurram Agency, one person was injured in a landmine explosion in Balishkhel village on Saturday.

The residents of the area said that Younas Ali was walking in fields when he stepped on an anti-personnel mine. The landmine exploded and injured him seriously, they added. The injured tribesman was rushed to agency headquarters hospital in Parachinar. They said that the victim lost his right leg in the blast. — Dawn