TTP suffers major blow as ex-deputy chief killed

In a big blow to the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, its former deputy chief Qari Amjad Swati, aka Mufti Mazahim, and his right-hand man, Commander Yasir, were killed in an intelligence-based operation in Bajaur district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday night, multiple sources confirmed to The Express Tribune on Thursday.

According to sources, Mufti Mazahim was the shadow minister of the TTP’s self-styled defence ministry and a close confidante of TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud, who allegedly survived a recent targeted strike in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

He was also a trusted aide of former TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah and TTP-Jamaatul Ahrar leader Omar Khalid Khorasani, who both were killed in Afghanistan in targeted attacks, sources added. Of late, he looked after the group’s terrorist activities in Bajaur, Dir, and Chitral districts.

The military’s media wing, the ISPR, also confirmed Amjad’s death. Sharing details of the IBO, it said that security forces picked up the movement of a “group of Khwarij”, who were trying to sneak in through Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Bajaur on the night between October 29 and 30.

“Troops effectively engaged and thwarted khwarijs’ attempt to infiltrate. As a result of precise and skillful engagement, four khwarij, including kharji leader, a high value target, Kharji Amjad, aka Mazahim, were sent to hell,” the ISPR said in a statement.

“Kharji commander Amjad, deputy to Kharji Noor Wali and head of Rehbari Shura (leadership council) of Indian proxy Fitna al Khwarij, was highly wanted by the law enforcement agencies and the government had fixed a head money of Rs5 million on him, as he remained actively involved in perpetuating numerous terrorist activities inside Pakistan while residing in Afghanistan,” the ISPR added.

The government has designated the TTP as Fitna al Khwarij and all its members as Khwarij.

The military’s media wing further stated that the Afghanistan-based TTP leadership has been “orchestrating infiltration attempts into Pakistan - primarily to project an impression of domestic presence and to raise the diminishing morale of their khwarij in Bajaur and Mohmand because of effective operations of security forces.”

Surprisingly, the infiltration attempt happened at a time when the Afghan Taliban requested Qatari and Turkish negotiators to convince Pakistan to resume negotiations which collapsed two days back due to the Taliban’s intransigence.

The ISPR reiterated on Thursday that the interim Afghan government must take concrete measures to ensure that Afghan soil is not used by khwarji proxies to perpetrate terrorism against Pakistan.

“It also validates our stance that Afghan soil is continuously being used as safe heaven by khwarij belonging to Fitna al Khwarij against Pakistan,” the ISPR stated, reiterating the military’s unwavering commitment to defending the nation’s frontiers.

A sanitisation operation is being conducted to eliminate any other Indian sponsored Khwarji found in the area as relentless counterterrorism campaign under vision “Azm e Istehkam” by security forces and law enforcement agencies will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign sponsored and supported terrorism from the country, the ISPR added.

Meanwhile, the TTP also confirmed the death of Mufti Mazahim and Commander Yasir in a statement sent to media person by its spokesperson Muhammad Khorasani.

Mazahim, a war strategist, had sworn allegiance to Afghan Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada. He had also been instrumental in renewing TTP’s allegiance to Hibatullah following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in August 2021, aligning the group’s operations under the Afghan Taliban’s so-called “Islamic Emirate.”

Mazahim’s command structure based in Afghan province of Kunar, Afghan documentation, and direct coordination with Taliban-protected “Dalgay” units indicated the operational symbiosis between the two groups.