ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: Clashes this week between two competing factions of the Pakistani Taleban in the country’s remote northwest killed dozens of fighters, intelligence officials and militant commanders said Friday.

It is unclear if the fighting will weaken an insurgency aimed at bringing down the nuclear-armed Pakistani state but the security agencies will be hoping to turn the bloodshed to their advantage.

The violence is between rivals in the Mehsud tribe, one of numerous ethnic Pashtun groups that straddle the Afghan-Pakistan border who have for generations battled outsiders to preserve their autonomy, and often each other over feuds. The clashes come at a time when the government is trying to negotiate a peace deal with the Pakistani Taleban. The violence likely will complicate those efforts.

One senior Taleban commander put the number of dead at 23. Other Taleban commanders and intelligence officials put the number as high as 43. There was no immediate way to independently confirm the death toll in the remote and dangerous area. The officials and commanders all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

The most recent clashes came Friday when a roadside bomb killed three militants in North Waziristan, intelligence officials said.

The fighting also stretched into South Waziristan. Both are tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan and home to numerous militant groups fighting in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The power struggle is between two men — Shehryar Mehsud and Khan Sayed Sajna — who both want to control the Mehsud faction of the Pakistani Taleban, formally called Tehrik-e-Taleban.

The Mehsuds historically have been the largest and most powerful faction of the organization. The tension goes back to 2009 when the then-leader of the militant group, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a drone strike, and there was a struggle within the organization about who would take over.