KABUL- Top Anti Pakistan Taliban commanders have been killed in Afghanistanreportedly by Afghan Taliban. Commanders belonging to the terroristsorganisations of TTP and JuA have been killed near Pakistan Afghanistanborder.
Three militant commanders of Hizbul Ahrar, a splinter group of the bannedTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), were killed in an ambush by a localAfghan tribal militia (lashkar) on Wednesday evening, the militantorganisation’s spokesperson confirmed.
The ambush took place in Khoga Khel Goshta area in the Afghan province ofNangarhar near the Pak-Afghan border, Tribune has reported.
The militant group’s spokesperson Dr Aziz Yusafzai confirmed that onWednesday evening, three top commanders of his group were killed, includingHizbul Ahrar’s militant wing commander Jehad Yar Mehsood.
Jehad Yar, who hailed from South Waziristan, was also a close aide of TTPleaders Baitullah Mehsood and Hakeemullah Mehsood, and was also in chargeof leading the brutal militant operation Ghazi in 2017 against Pakistan.
He lead the attacks, first as part of Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA), anothersplinter group of TTP, and then as part of Hizbul Ahrar after parting wayswith the JuA due to differences with its leader Umar Khalid Khorasani.
The two had also butted heads over operation Ghazi, under which themilitants led many brutal bomb blasts in Lahore, Mardan, Charsadda andQuetta, including the 2017 suicide attack inside the shrine of Sufi saintLal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan that left more than 80 people dead andinjuring at least 350 others.
Umer Kamal was also part of JuA and was working as its Nawagai commander inBajaur Agency in the past. But he later joined Hizbul Ahrar afterdeveloping differences Khorasani.[image: Hizbul Ahrar’s Nawagai commander Umer Kamal from Bajaur Agency wasalso killed in Wednesday’s clash. PHOTO: File]
Hizbul Ahrar’s Nawagai commander Umer Kamal from Bajaur Agency was alsokilled in Wednesday’s clash. PHOTO: File
Although the spokesperson for Hizbul Ahrar did not confirm of rifts withJuA, but according to sources, the militant commanders killed Wednesday hadclashed with the local Afghan tribal militia that had JuA’s backing.
The sources say firing between the two militant groups has been continuallyreported in the Khoga Khel area of Goshta district in Nangarhar ever sinceHizbul Ahrar was formed in November 2017.
Hizbul Ahrar chief Mukarram Khosrani lays the blame on JuA’s Khorasani fortargeting Pakistani civilians in the bomb blasts across the country as partof their militant operation.
A large number of Hizbul Ahrar militants have surrendered to the PakistanArmy in the past, including JuA spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan.