Not allies: 8 dead as TTP, Haqqani Network clash in North Waziristan

Locals say residents have begun to flee the area as fighting continued till late night.

PESHAWAR: Intense clashes between the Haqqani Network and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan left at least eight people dead in North Waziristan Agency, local sources said on Thursday.

“Taliban attacked Malik Karim Khan’s tribe late Wednesday night. The tribe resisted the attack, leading to crossfire,” a local resident said, requesting anonymity.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the clash started in the early hours of Thursday and intensified after the deaths of TTP Commander Jehanzeb Khan and Haqqani Commander Qadir Haqqani.

Clashes erupted in the Malik Shadam Khan area of NWA’s Speen Waam sub-district, which shares a border with Afghanistan. Six people, including a woman, were killed by members of the Haqqani Network in the primary clash. In retaliation, two Haqqani Network men were killed and several houses in the area suffered damage due to the use of heavy weaponry.

According to an official of the Mirali Political Administration, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the event, a local tribal elder Gulbuddin was killed in the clash. Gulbuddin was among those tribesmen who were trying to broker a ceasefire between the two parties.

The group continued fighting at the time of filing this report. Sources said the TTP was led by Sattar, who was nominated the commander after his cousin Jehanzeb’s death. The Haqqani Network, they said, is being commandeered by a man named Sangeen.

They said that residents have begun fleeing the area, where both groups have taken positions against each other. Tribal elders and religious clerics are making efforts to broker a ceasefire between the warring groups.

There was no estimate of how many fighters were involved, but sources said the number runs in the hundreds for both groups.