Senior Jamaatul Ahrar commander killed in IED blast in Afghanistan

The TTP splinter group claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing at the Peshawar Police Lines

A senior commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Jamaatul Ahrar, Shamsher, along with five gunmen, was killed in an IED blast in the Shongro area of the northeastern Afghan province of Kunar on Tuesday.

Shamsher, a native of the Mohmand tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), was the TTP-JA's military training and operations commander. The TTP-JA had claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing at the Peshawar Police Lines, calling it "revenge" for the killing of its founder, Omar Khalid Khorasani. However, the TTP's official spokesperson denied involvement in the attack.

Source privy to the development told The Express Tribune that the TTP-JA, a splinter group that merged back with the TTP in August 2020, is again breaking away following Khorasani's killing in August 2022 in eastern Afghanistan in a mysterious blast blamed by his group on Pakistani agencies.

Read more: TTP commander critically injured in attack in Afghanistan

The TTP is an umbrella organisation of various militant groups in Pakistan, which aims to overthrow the Pakistani government and establish Islamic law. Jamaatul Ahrar is one of the factions within the TTP, known for its attacks on civilians and security forces.

The Taliban, who have taken over most of Afghanistan, have been conducting operations against the TTP and other militant groups in the region. The TTP and its affiliates have used the rugged and mountainous terrain along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border as a safe haven to plan and launch attacks. However, the Taliban have promised to prevent militants from using Afghan soil to attack other countries.

The violence in the region has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, including civilians and security personnel, over the past two decades.

In October last year, two senior commanders of TTP were killed in separate incidents in Afghanistan.

Local sources told The Express Tribune that TTP commander Bismillah alias Asadullah Pehelwan has been assassinated by unknown gunmen in Spin Boldak in Kandahar.

The sources said that 35-year-old Pehelwan belonged to the militant wing of the radical group and had moved to Kandahar to avoid target-killing alongside others.

The renowned Taliban commander was killed by unknown gunmen who left them on the spot.

Another militant Mudasir Iqbal, who hails from Sialkot in Punjab province, was picked up by unknown gunmen a few days earlier and his body was found on the roadside today in Nangahar.

Earlier, TTP commander Maulvi Abdullah was critically injured in a targeted attack in Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

The former chief justice of the Bajaur tribal district was inside a vehicle when an improvised explosive device (IED) attack resulted in him getting critically wounded, sources had confirmed to The Express Tribune.