BARA: Unidentified people have torched about 40 houses in the Tirah valley of Khyber Agency, an elder said on Wednesday. “Who torched the houses after the militants were flushed out of various areas of Tirah including Takhtakai, Tora Lagada, Nari Baba and once the government had restored its writ?” asked an elder Haji Normat Khan while talking to reporters. He said about 40 houses of Kamarkhel tribe were set on fire at night by unknown people in Takhtakai and Tora Lagada during recent weeks.He added that the tribesmen had vacated their houses when the security forces launched Operations Khyber-1 and Khyber-2 against the Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Tirah valley last year. “The security forces control the areas of Kamarkhel, Sepah and Akakhel tribes and have deployed the soldiers on the mountaintops where the people cannot go to their houses. Then, who torched our houses?” he questioned.The elder said the tribal people had suffered losses worth millions as their houses were destroyed in Tirah. He asked the government to take note of the incidents and extend financial help to the affected families to reconstruct their houses. He said the affected people had already informed the political administration about their losses. Teenager drowns in Kabul River: A teenager drowned on Wednesday in Kabul River at Nowshera Kalan in the district, police said.They said that Rahman (13), a resident of Nowshera Kalan, had gone to swim in the Kabal River along with his friends when he was swept away and drowned in the river. The sailors and divers launched a search to recover the body.
