26 die in Pak tribal factional clash

A Pakistani cleric incited tribesmen to attack Afghan families settled in the Khyber area, who were following a rival Afghan preacher, the officials said.

The clashes took place around Fort Salop, some 15 km southwest of Peshawar, the main city in North West Frontier Province.

Armed tribesmen attacked the house of a local supporter of the Afghan cleric, and shot dead at least 18 people before setting the house alight on Tuesday, witnesses and intelligence officials said. One of the attackers was also killed.

"Dead bodies are still lying there and paramilitary troops have sealed off all roads leading to that place," Mohammed Nisar Afridi, vice president of a local trade union, told Reuters.

The clashes had begun on Monday evening, when seven tribesmen were killed and 25 wounded before paramilitary troops opened fire to disperse a mob.

The Pakistani tribesmen had also taken an unknown number of people hostage, an intelligence official said.

"The attackers have taken hostage women and children," one intelligence officer said, requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile the US consulate was temporarily closed for security reasons Tuesday in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, which adjoins the tribal areas.

A spokeswoman for the US embassy in Islamabad said there had been a "specific and credible" threat while a Pakistani official told AFP that a consulate official had received a telephone threat.

Pakistan, a key ally in the US-led "war on terror", has deployed 80,000 troops along the border to hunt down al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.