As many as 50 militants were killed in clashes between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Ansarul Islam (AI) in Khyber Agency, according to media reports.
Officials and residents of the agency were quoted by news channels as saying that clashes between the TTP and AI erupted in the remote Tirah Valley on Friday night.
Sadat Afridi, AI spokesman, told a private TV channel that his group’s fighters had captured three Taliban bases in Maidan. The fight was still on for a fourth Taliban base, he claimed.
Afridi said his group had vowed to flush out Taliban militants from the valley as they “carry out attacks on mosques and public places, which is against Islam”.
He said AI would not allow the Taliban to continue “killing innocent Muslims in the name of religion”.
Both groups were using heavy weapons, including mortars, to target each other’s positions.
Officials were quoted as saying that 30 Taliban fighters and 23 members of the AI had lost their lives so far.
Dozens more were injured in the fighting, which continued until this Saturday. People began fleeing the region last night after the two groups fired mortar shells at Maidan village, reports said.
The clashes erupted in an area close to the Afghan border where Pakistani security forces have no presence, TV news channels reported.
Abdul Rashid Lashkari, a spokesman for the Lashkar-e-Islam, said his group would remain neutral in the clashes.
“We are not (fighting) despite our affiliation to the Taliban and our grudges with Ansarul Islam,” Lashkari was quoted as saying by the media.
