Waziristan violence: TTP infighting leaves a dozen dead

Clashes between factions led by Shehryar Mehsud and Khan Said ongoing in Shawal tehsil.

MIRAMSHAH:

At least a dozen militants of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed in bloody infighting on the confluence of North and South Waziristan agencies on Tuesday.

The fighting between the Shehryar Mehsud-led Hakimullah group and Waliur Rahman group of Khan Said, alias Sajna, erupted in the mountainous Shawal tehsil, a security official said. “Fighters from the two sides are using heavy weapons against each other,” the official said, adding that frightened tribesmen have shut themselves up in their houses as the area is reverberating with gunfire and rocket explosions.

According to independent sources, seven members of the Hakimullah group and five of Waliur Rahman group have been killed so far while the clashes are ongoing.

Sources said that local tribal elders have swung into action to broker a ceasefire between the two factions. “However, they also came under fire multiple times.”

The fighting first started in the first week of April in South Waziristan and within no time spread to North Waziristan and Tank district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Several fighters from both sides were killed before leaders from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan brokered a ceasefire between them.

The cessation of hostilities, however, didn’t last long. Around a week ago, senior commander of Waliur Rahman group, Amir Hamza, along with six colleagues was killed in a roadside blast which was blamed on the Hakimullah group.

Four days ago the deputy chief of Hakimullah group was shot dead by gunmen in Miramshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan Agency. Waliur Rahman group was blamed for the killing and fighting broke out between the two factions.

Motorcycle bombing

Earlier in the day, two TTP members were killed and as many injured in a bomb attack in Miramshah.

The bomb was strapped to a motorcycle belonging to some TTP members who lived in Zafar Town near Miramshah Bazaar, an official of the political administration said. When one of them started the motorcycle around 7:00am the bomb went off, killing two militants on the spot and injuring another two, the official added.

After the explosion, TTP members rushed to the spot and shifted the casualties to an undisclosed location.

The dead and the injured militants belong to Swat and Orakzai Agency, the official said, adding that the target was the TTP commander for Peshawar district who remained unhurt in the incident.

Khyber Agency attack

Separately, two members of a pro-government militia were killed and another was wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in Landi Kotal tehsil of Khyber Agency on Tuesday.

Three members of Touheedul Islam militia were travelling to Bazaar Zakha Khel when a roadside bomb was remotely detonated by suspected militants near their car in the Mastak area, an official of the local political administration said. As a result, two TI members were killed and the third was wounded.

Officials of Khasadar, the local tribal police force, shifted the casualties to the Agency Headquarters Hospital Landi Kotal where medics referred the injured to a hospital in Peshawar for treatment of his critical wounds. The vehicle was destroyed in the blast.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2014.