LANDI KOTAL, Nov 24: Security forces fired on a suspected vehicle ahead of a convoy near the Shagai Fort on the main Peshawar-Torkham road in the Khyber tribal region on Monday, officials said.

The suspects, however, escaped without any casualty or damage to their vehicle.

Officials of the political administration in Jamrud said the convoy of more than 50 vehicles taking supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan was on its way to the Torkham border when the incident occurred. The convoy, however, reached the border without any hindrance, they added.

The officials said the administration had chalked out a security plan to prevent militants from using the Peshawar-Torkham road.

The government has arranged security escort for vehicles carrying fuel and other supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan via the Torkham after the hijacking of 19 such vehicles by militant groups in Jamrud on Nov 10. The firing on militants by security forces on the Peshawar-Torkham highway is the second incident of its type in two days.

Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen abducted two members of a business family of Landi Kotal from the Peshawar-Torkham road near Nikki Khel on Monday.

Officials said Mohammad Ilyas, son of Dost Mohammad, and Adnan, son of Karam, were going to Peshawar from Landi Kotal when their car was intercepted by a group of masked gunmen near a Khasadar checkpost in Mikki Khel. The two young men were dragged from their car and taken in another car towards the Ziarhai area.

The Ziarhai locality in Barazaar Zakhakel has become a hub of anti-social elements and outlaws. Local officials said most of the abducted men were kept in protected houses in Ziarhai.

Incidents of kidnapping for ransom have registered a sharp increase in Landi Kotal and Jamrud tehsils during the last one and a half months. Sources said 21 people, including government officials, had been kidnapped during the last few weeks. Local officials said they had received more than a dozen complaints during the same period.

In most of the cases, members of rich families have been targeted and released only after payment of huge ransoms by their relatives. Some of the abductions are targeted in nature because the kidnapped men had affiliation with a particular religious or militant group.

BODY FOUND: The bullet-ridden body of an abducted Hakeem, Balwand Singh, was found in the Shahkas locality of Jamrud on Monday morning. Balwand Singh had been kidnapped by four unidentified armed men from his clinic in the Taj Abad-Peshtakhara locality of Peshawar on Sunday. No one has accepted responsibility for the incident.

Also in the Shahkas area, armed volunteers of the Lashkar-i-Islam recovered a car and arrested two suspects for their alleged involvement in car-lifting.

Laskhar sources said the car had been lifted from Lahore a few days ago and the owner had appealed to them for assistance in recovery of the car.