Terror strikes Orakzai: Huge blast at militia compound kills 15

Anti-Taliban commander survives attack by four suicide bombers.

BILAND KHEL:

The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Thursday ratcheted up its offensive against government-backed militias, targeting a key rival commander in Speen Thal area of Upper Orakzai Agency and signalling its unwillingness to call off attacks despite peace overtures by the government.

At least 15 people died in Thursday’s attack which was carried out by four suicide bombers, a government official said. This was the third and most violent attack on anti-Taliban militia leader Mullah Nabi Hanfi, an ex-Taliban commander, who survived the attack but sustained injuries.

An official of the political administration from Upper Orakzai said three militants wearing suicide jackets entered the main compound of Hanfi at around 5:00am. A gun-fight started as Hanfi’s guards tried to stop the militants. Two of the attackers died during the encounter as they killed six of Hanfi’s men.

However, the third suicide bomber managed to enter the main compound where he detonated his vest. The real damage, however, came when a fourth suicide bomber rammed a pick-up vehicle into the main gate of the compound – to raise the number of casualties of the Nabi Hanfi group to 15.

The official said the huge explosion –resulting from 600 kg of explosives – razed the entire compound along with a mosque and eight neighbouring houses, adding that Hanafi was also among the injured.

Lying at the confluence of North Waziristan, Kurram Agency and Upper Orakzai Agency, Speen Thal is situated around 70 kilometres west of Hangu district and is infested by militancy.

Talking to journalists, members of Hanfi group said they were preparing themselves for Fajr prayers when suicide bombers attacked the compound. They said after the explosions they started clearing the rubble and pulled out the bodies along with the injured and shifted them to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Thal, Kohat and Peshawar.

The militia members, who wished not to be named, said Mullah Nabi Hanfi was injured after being hit by a shrapnel on the foot and was shifted to an undisclosed location for treatment. They alleged that the attack was carried out by TTP Orakzai chapter commander Hafiz Saeed. Previously, Hanfi was a commander of the TTP Hangu district. However, due to his differences with the outfit, he relocated to Speen Thal and formed his own militia, Nabi Hanfi Caravan.

Later, both the groups started targeting each other in Hangu, Orakzai and in Kurram Agency. Most parts of Hangu along with lower and parts of Upper Orakzai Agency are still under the control of Nabi Hanfi.

Talking to journalists from an undisclosed location, the TTP central spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid claimed responsibility for the attack. “The TTP will not let a single opportunity go by …to attack Mullah Nabi Hanfi,” he added.

On October 5, 2012, a member of the renegade Taliban commander was killed when a suicide bomber detonated his jacket outside a house in Sarakdana area on the outskirts of Hangu. Nabi Hanfi was reportedly residing in the house at the time of the attack. In a similar attack on July 21, 2012, a suicide bomber rammed an explosives packed vehicle into the same compound, killing a dozen of people and injured 18. However, Hanfi has miraculously survived all three attacks.


Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2013.