MOHMAND: More than 100 families have left border areas in the Khwezai tehsil here during the last three days as authorities ordered them to shift to safer places following continuous mortar shelling from across the border.

`We have ordered evacuation from around 80 houses in border areas, especially for the safety of children, women and livestock,` an official of the district administration told Dawn on Thursday.

He said mortar shells had been fired from Afghanistan for the last three days.

`The shells landed in the Faqirabad and Mamad Kor areas of Khwezai tehsil, while one fell near the Bahai Dag Complex of the district administration and seven to eight in other areas,` he said.

Sources said 80 families had departed from Mamad Kor, 35 from Samghai Hadikhel, and six from Lakhkar Kalay Kodakhel and Atam Kalay each.

They said most families had moved to Ashrafabad, Wacha Jor, Jummakhel, Gat Warsak and Mazrina in Khwezai tehsil.

The sources said mortar shells had been fired from across the Afghan border near the settlements in Atam Kalay areas in Baizai tehsil and Khadikhel and Mamad Kor in Samghakhi area of Khwezai tehsil. Fauzee Khan Mohmand