A senior Pakistani militant with a US$three million bounty on his head has been killed together with three aides in neighboring Afghanistan, three militant commanders and an intelligence official mentioned on Monday.
Pakistani officers mentioned the demise of Abdul Wali, also referred to as Omar Khalid Khurasani, may deal a blow to nascent peace talks between the Pakistan Taliban, often known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, and the Pakistani authorities after conferences facilitated by the Taliban. rulers in Kabul.
Khurasani and his aides have been killed in an obvious roadside bomb blast whereas touring in a automotive in southeastern Paktia province on Sunday, the sources mentioned. Reuters underneath circumstances of anonymity. They didn’t say who they believed was behind the assault.
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A fourth militant commander confirmed the demise on Twitter: “He’s now not with us,” Ehsanullah Ehsan wrote in a tweet.
Khurasani was the pinnacle of Jamat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), an offshoot of the TTP, designated a terrorist group by the United Nations and america, which had provided $three million for data resulting in his seize or demise his.
Stories of the demise of a senior Pakistani Islamist militant in Afghanistan got here only a week after america mentioned that killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri on strike in a single kabul hostel.
The Taliban authorities in Kabul and Pakistan’s army and international workplace didn’t reply to requests for remark. The TTP mentioned with out confirming the demise that it might concern an in depth assertion.
The Khurasan group had claimed accountability for a number of assaults towards the police, military, Shia Muslims and minority Christians that killed a whole lot of individuals in Pakistan.
For its staunch anti-Shia stance, the Khurasan group had for a number of years been affiliated with the Islamic State group in Afghanistan and Pakistan earlier than returning to the TTP fold final yr, officers say.
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Among the many three different militants killed with him was Mufti Hasan, who has been described by Pakistani officers as a senior commander working for the Islamic State.
Khurasani, as soon as seen as hostile to any negotiations with the Pakistani authorities, was among the many TTP leaders who held a session of peace talks in Kabul with a delegation of non secular students despatched from Pakistan, Pakistani officers have mentioned.
The TTP needs to overthrow the federal government in Pakistan and change it with a harsh model of Sharia legislation.
