Drone strike kills three Taliban in Afghanistan’s Nazyan
A top Pakistani Taliban commander, Omar Khalid Khorasani, has been injured in a joint operation by the Afghan and NATO forces on the Afghan side of the border, a spokesman for Khorasani said on Sunday.
Khorasani is the supreme commander of the splinter group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat-ul-Ahrar that is blamed for several deadly attacks in the country.
“Omar Khalid Khorasani was injured in a joint operation by the Afghan and NATO forces in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province,” spokesman for the group, Ehsanullah Ehsan told the media.
“Khorasani has now been shifted to a safe place and he is improving,” Ehsan was quoted as saying. He also confirmed that nine fighters of the group were also killed in the attack few days ago.
“The clashes were continued for two days,” the spokesman said.
One of the founding members of the TTP, Khorasani (aka Abdul Wali) is a former journalist from Mohmand agency. Within organisational circles he is known as a formidable military commander. He was also given additional charge of the Khyber agency chapter for a brief period where he orchestrated a bloody campaign against government-backed lashkars.
Climbing up in the ranks to Mohmand agency chief, he was later ousted from the TTP for forming the splinter group Jamatul Ahrar.
Khorasani had been a key player in the recent splintering of the TTP.
One part of the outfit is now headed by Mullah Fazlullah, who was elected following the killing of ex-chief Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone strike. Fazlullah is the first non-Mehsud leader of the Pakistani Taliban and has struggled to impose his authority on the powerful tribe. He faced many challengers to become chief of the Pakistani Taliban after the death of the previous head.
The other is headed by Umar Khorasani who is commanding Mohmand Agency independently, and leads the breakaway Jamatul Ahrar (freedom fighters group).
Khorasani previously led a faction called Ahrarul Hind, which claimed several attacks during a ceasefire period between the government and Taliban in 2014, including one on an Islamabad court complex that killed 12 people.
Analysts believe Khorasani has strong links to Al Qaeda and Zawahiri.
THREE TALIBAN KILLED IN DRONE ATTACK:
Separately, at least three militants were killed and as many injured when Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operated drone fired two missiles on their hide out in Nazyan area of Afghanistan which share border with Khyber Agency in Tirah valley, sources said on Sunday.
The sources said that US drone targeted a Taliban sanctuary at 2pm. According to local sources a main Taliban commander among three militants were killed while three others wounded. The hide out was also destroyed in the drone attack.
As the drone hit the militants’ hideout, dozens of militants rushed to the site and cordoned off the whole area and retrieved dead and injured persons.
Meanwhile, three volunteers of local peace committee were killed when a huge explosion took place in Lashkar, a home occupied by peace body members Dari area in Tirah valley. The Khyber Agency based banned organization Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) claimed responsibility of the blast and said that they would also target them wherever they can attack.