Reports from Pakistan say at least six people have been killed in a day-long battle between two rival tribal villages in Kohat district of the North-West Frontier Province NWFP.

The authorities say the villagers used rocket-propelled grenades and mortars against each other, destroying many houses before paramilitary troops moved in to separate the two sides.

Local officials said that, although the villagers belonged to the rival Sunni and Shia Muslim sects, the dispute was over land -- although it had the potential to develop into wider sectarian violence.