At least 21 people were killed and several others injured in clashes between the supporters of two religious groups, TV channels reported Tuesday.

Followers of two religious leaders Mufti Munir Shakir and Pir Saifur Rehman were involved in a gunfight in the Khyber agency, some 12 km east of Peshawar, the Geo TV reported.

The clashes erupted on Monday and continued till Tuesday morning, it added.

Many of those killed in the clashes were Uzbek Afghans, according to Geo.

There was no official confirmation of the deaths.

A press release from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas ( FATA) secretariat of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) said that the situation in Bara, the headquarters of the Kheyber agency, was normal on Monday after an armed clash between two rival religious groups that left four to five people injured.

Geo reported that the group of Mufti's supporters asked Badshah Jee, an Afghan refugee and follower of the Pir, to vacate his house at Sur Dhand and hand over weapons to them.

Badshah Jee, however, did not comply and the Mufti Group moved to occupy his house by force. Both the groups used heavy weapons against each other, which led to considerable bloodshed on both sides, Geo said.

The political administration exercised maximum restraint, but finally ordered security personnel to open artillery fire to bring the situation under control, according to the press release.

Source: Xinhua