Waziristan infighting: One killed, two injured in Taliban clashes

Two members of another faction also killed.

PESHAWAR/ DI KHAN:

In a clash between the Mullah Nazeer Taliban group and Ghulam Jan Taliban group at Akhwan Market in Wana’s Rustham Bazar, one member of the Ghulam Jan Taliban group was killed.

The Mullah Nazeer group abducted four members of the opposing party, to which a man named Muslim Khan - a member of the Ghulam Jan Group – retaliated by hurling a grenade, killing himself and injuring two militants of the rival group. Muslim Khan had intercepted the Mullah Nazeer group members while they were escaping with the abducted men towards Azam War Sak.

Commander Ghulam Jan was among those militant commanders who owned his own Taliban group, but was expelled from the Wana sub-division by the Mullah Nazeer Taliban group in 2007 during clashes between Mullah Nazeer’s group and Uzbek militants.

Later, Ghulam Jan along with others local militant commanders, came back to Wana sub-division in South Waziristan under a secret deal with their arch nemesis.

Under the agreement between Mullah Nazeer and Ghulam Jan, it was decided that Jan and his group’s fighter will not be a part of militant activities in Wana sub-division.

Sources told The Express Tribune that for the last few months, Jan’s group has reactivated their activities in Wana, which the opposing group considered a violation of the agreement.

In a separate incident, unknown persons killed two militants, including Wali Muhammad, who presided over a separate Taliban group in Kalosha, the border village of Wana Sub-division in South Waziristan, security officials and Taliban sources told The Express Tribune.

Meanwhile, a security forces vehicle hit a roadside IED in the Sarobi Qamar area on Razmak Miran Shah Road in Miran Shah sub-division, a security official told The Express Tribune.

The vehicle was damaged in the blast, but there was no human casualty in the explosion, the official added.

Transporters kidnapped

In Peshawar, militants belonging to Lashker-e-Islam (LI) kidnapped four transporters from the Mera Masho Khel village in the jurisidiction of Badabher police station.

Locals told The Express Tribune that during Iftar about a dozen militants entered the village from Khyber Agency’s Akka Khel  side and held up four truckers at gunpoint.

The militants also opened fire at a Suzuki carry van, seriously injuring a woman.

“A dozen or so LI militants kidnapped four transporters belonging to the Shinwari settlement,” said Faiz Muhammad, the ex-nazim of Masho Khel village.

He added that there was no sign of police in the area despite the fact that there were several check posts established along Khyber Agency’s to stop militants’ infiltration.

He explained that the people belonging to the Shinwari settlement were rich transporters and owners of 24-wheelers trucks, which is why they were frequently abducted by the militants.

Six months ago, LI militants kidnapped 11 Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO)  workers from the same area.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2012.