TTP chief gunned down by guard in FATA

It is believed that Fazal Saeed Haqqani may have been targeted due to internal differences among Taliban groups

ISLAMABAD: A senior Pakistani Taliban leader, Fazal Saeed Haqqani, was shot dead in the Kurram tribal region by one of his guards on Thursday, sources said.

Haqqani had served as head of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in Kurram Agency under the leadership of Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone strike near Miramshah in 2013.

He had later parted ways with the TTP and launched his own faction Tehreek-e-Taliban Islami against the bombings of mosques and civilians.

But official sources in the region said that Haqqani had been behind a series of attacks and targeted killings in Parachinar.

Militant sources said that a guard shot Haqqani multiple times near his home where he was present with other militants. Another commander Sher Zaman was also killed in the firing. The attacker, identified as Idrees Afridi from Khyber Agency, fled after the incident, the authorities said. Idrees had been working as Haqqani’s guard for three years, sources close to the group said.



Motives behind the attack were unclear and no group claimed responsibility. It is believed that Haqqani may have been targeted due to internal differences among the Taliban groups.

Haqqani had set up his own huge structure in Tor Ghar near Orakzai Agency. He was among the several influential Taliban commanders when he was part of the TTP. The militant group announced that his funeral will be held in Lower Kurram on Friday.

The TTP and other armed groups are believed to be in disarray after a major military offensive in the tribal regions and Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan.

The military insists all the Pakistani Taliban groups now operate from the Afghan side of the border.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2016.