An explosion destroyed the home of a militant in Pakistan's Khyber region today, killing seven people, on the third day of a government offensive against Islamists threatening the city of Peshawar.
A militant chief said he believed the blast was caused by a missile but a government official in the region said explosives stored at the house in the town of Bara went off accidentally.
"There was no rocket attack, it's not related to the ongoing operation. The blast was caused by explosives that were lying there," said the senior political official, who declined to be identified.
Security forces launched an offensive in Khyber, on the country's northwestern border with Afghanistan, on Saturday to push back Taliban militants who have been moving towards Peshawar, raising fears for the city's security.
Troops backed by armoured vehicles and helicopters met virtually no resistance when they moved in and secured Bara, about 15 kilometres southwest of Peshawar.
Troops destroyed several militant compounds as well as an FM radio station and an interrogation centre, officials said.
The offensive is the first major military action a new government has launched since it took power after February elections, and comes after growing alarm about the spread of militants in the northwest.
It also came as US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, Richard Boucher, arrived in Pakistan for talks with government leaders.
The commander of the main militant group in the area, Mangal Bagh, left Bara for the remote Tirah valley before the offensive. He told media he had ordered his men to go home and not put up a fight, adding he did not know why security forces were attacking his group which did not harbour foreign militants or have links with the Taliban or al-Qaeda.
Bagh is not allied with notorious Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, and his men are not known for crossing into Afghanistan to attack Western troops.