Former IS-K chief Asif Farooqi killed in Afghanistan clash

Sources say militant commander was killed as result of an internal dispute

PESHAWAR:

The former chief of the militant Islamic State-Khurasan, Aslam Farooqi, was killed during a shootout in northern Afghanistan on Sunday.

There are conflicting reports about the death of the militant commander.

Reportedly, the militant leader, who hailed from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Orakzai district, was killed during an investigation against organised kidnappers and criminal mafia. The investigation resulted in a clash and Farooqi, along with his aides, was killed as a result.

However, sources suggest that the IS-K leader was killed as a result of an internal dispute within the militant organisation also known as Daesh,

A senior IS-K official from Orakzai said the body of the militant commander will be shifted to his hometown by Tuesday.

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Farooqi had made a deal with the Afghan forces during the government of then president Ashraf Ghani after the fall of the IS-K in Nangarhar in 2020. He was later replaced as the head of IS-K and Dr Shahab Mahajer took over the militant faction.

This is the second high-profile militant commander killed during this month.

A week earlier, Muhammad Khurassani, the operational commander and the spokesperson for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was killed in Nangarhar province.

Aged between 48 and 50, Khorasani’s real name was Khalid Balti. At the time of his killing, he was not just the TTP’s operational commander but also its spokesperson. Hailing from Gilgit-Baltistan, Khurassani received his initial education from his native town. In 2007, he joined the Tehreek Nifaze Shariat Muhammadi in Swat.