LANDI KOTAL, April 29: Ten persons, including five militants, were killed and 14 others injured in a clash between rival armed groups and mortar shelling in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency on Sunday.
Sources said that at least five activists of banned militant outfit Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) and a volunteer of Akkakhel peace committee were killed in a day-long clash between the two groups.
They said that scores of LI members attacked the peace volunteers when they were trying to establish a post in Man Talab area of Akkakhel.
The two sides traded heavy gunfire and used different types of weapons against each other. The clash that continued till late Sunday also left seven activists of LI and two peace volunteers injured. It was also learnt the LI members abducted two volunteers of the peace committee.
Security forces also pounded militant hideouts with artillery and claimed to have destroyed several hideouts.
The indiscriminate artillery shelling also killed at least four persons, including a woman and a child. Five children were also injured when mortar shells fell on different houses.
The dead were identified as Bezar Khan, Lal Mar Jan, daughter-in-law of Noor Mohammad and an unidentified minor girl. The injured included three sons of Bezar Khan and two children of Badshah Mir. The injured were shifted to Peshawar for treatment.
According to APP, three persons were killed and 20 others received injuries in a bomb blast in a Suzuki van parked in Zakhakhrl Bus Stand in Jamrud area of Khyber Agency on Sunday.
The political administration said that the explosive-laden van was parked by unidentified militants near Zakakhel Bus Stand. The explosives went off with a bang and killed two persons on spot and injured 20 others, they said. One of the injured succumbed to his injuries when he was being shifted to a hospital.
The officials of the law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area soon after the blast. The injured were shifted to Jamrud Civil Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex.
Emergency was declared in the hospitals in Peshawar. The officials of the political administration and Khasadar Force launched search operation in the area.