ISLAMABAD: A senior commander of the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was killed in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, sources said Monday.
Nazir Afridi alias Jundullah was killed Sunday night in Nangarhar’s Nazyan district along with three other militants when a private militia of Afghan leader Haji Zahir Qadeer raided their hideout, sources told Daily Times.
Nazir was suspected to be involved in the killing of dangerous TTP leader Tariq Afridi in February 2013. Nazir was the brother-in-law of Tariq Afridi and it was previously stated that Tariq had been killed due to family issues but later it was revealed that the killing was the result of an internal rift as some Taliban leaders were upset at the brutal actions of Tariq Afridi.
Besides a series of deadly attacks on the local tribesmen in Darra Adam Khel, Tariq was accused of beheading a Polish engineer Piotr Stanczak in February 2009.
Taliban sources said that the group’s former chief Hakimullah Mehsood had pardoned Nazir after several leaders defended his action. Omar Khalid Korasani, leader of the TTP Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, is believed to have sheltered him after he escaped after killing Tariq. He had been associated with the TTP under Maulvi Fazalullah until his death.
Sources said that militia of Haji Qadeer, a member of parliament from Nangarhar, raided Nazir’s residence as he and his colleagues were allegedly involved in kidnapping for ransom incidents. A local trader, who was held hostage, was also freed during the raid. The militia also arrested three accomplices of Nazir.
Malik Dehqan, head of the local militia, led the operation, sources close to the raiding party said.
Several TTP and Daesh leaders have been killed on the Afghan side of the border, including Omar Mansoor alias Narai, the mastermind of the 2014 brutal attack on the Army Public School.
Published in Daily Times, September 12th 2017.
