PARACHINAR, April 7: Severe clashes continued between the rival groups in Kurram tribal region on Monday.

Sources said that miscreants set on fire two vehicles parked near a military checkpost in Balishkhel area on Sunday night. Two persons had been killed and eight others wounded in the clashes that erupted on Friday last.

Officials said that both sides had agreed on a temporary ceasefire on Sunday but the late night attack on the Balishkhel village dampened prospects of peace agreement. The residents of Balishkhel village retaliated.

Security forces also fired artillery shells from their base in Parachinar to target positions of combatants near Sadda town and disperse the armed men. Residents of Balishkhel, however, accused the administration of dilly-dallying tactics, which according to them jeopardised attempts for restoration of peace in the area.

On Friday last, clashes broke out in the troubled region when unidentified persons attacked a convoy escorted by the troops near Khar Kali, killing two passengers and injuring 21 others.

Elders of Turi tribe claimed that outsiders had penetrated into the region and had started attacking innocent local residents. They alleged that political administration deliberately painted the prevailing situation in Kurram as sectarian clashes.

They said that miscreants had been massacring innocent people since April 2006. They alleged that outsiders had killed more 600 persons while authorities were reluctant to take action against them.