Khyber Agency: Clash of the militants claims 61 lives as yet

PESHAWAR: With eight new casualties, the armed engagement between two militant groups, which started yesterday, has claimed 61 lives as yet, Geo News reported on Saturday.

The showdown blasted off after about 300 Taliban armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades launched the overnight assault in the Maiden area of Tirah, a maze of valleys on a route from Afghanistan to the city of Peshawar, a fighter of Ansar ul-Islam militia said.

According to a foreign news agency the militia beat the Taliban back, killing 15 and capturing 8, while three villagers, including an elderly woman, were killed in crossfire, he said.

A Taliban fighter said they killed 13 members of the pro-government militia, the agency added.

Sources say a ceasefire seemed far from over.

“Sporadic exchange of fire could be heard now and then from the hostile zone”, said sources.