Growing coordination: TTP faction chief injured in Afghan raid

Khalid Khorasani wounded in operation by Afghan, NATO forces in Nangarhar

ISLAMABAD: The chief of a breakaway faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) blamed for some of the deadliest attacks has been wounded in  a military operation in  eastern Afghanistan, his spokesperson confirmed on Sunday.

“I can confirm that Omar Khalid Khorasani [chief of TTP Jamaat-ul-Ahrar] was injured a few days ago in a joint operation by Afghan and Nato forces in Nangarhar province,” the spokesperson, Ehsanullah Ehsan, told the media.

“Khorasani has been shifted to a safe location where he is recuperating,” Ehsan told The Express Tribune by telephone. He confirmed that nine fighters of his group were killed in the raid – but no prominent commander was among them. “The clashes continued for two days,” he added.

There were no comments from Afghan and Nato officials.

Ehsan also confirmed the incident on his official Twitter page. “We are hopeful and pray for his long life and good health. We appeal to our brothers and Mujahidin to pray for him.”

The TTP Jamaat-ul-Ahrar had claimed responsibility for the November 2, 2014 suicide bombing at Wagah border crossing that killed 60-plus people, women and children among them, who were leaving after attending a flag-lowering ritual by Pakistani and Indian border guards.

Khorasani was a senior commander of the TTP until last year when he was expelled for gelling together a separate faction. He was also accused of interfering in the affairs of the Afghan Taliban, while his contacts with mysterious militant groups like Ahrarul Hind and Junud-e-Khorasan, were also a source of considerable consternation in the TTP.

In a scathing rejoinder, the TTP Jamaat-ul-Ahrar had also issued a long charge-sheet against the Taliban leadership, accusing them of serving ‘their personal interests’.

Pakistani officials say several TTP leaders have fled the ongoing military operations in the tribal regions and sneaked into Afghanistan where they have set up sanctuaries. Sources say that the recent operations by Afghan and Nato forces in the border regions and US drone strikes have caused significant damage to the TTP hideouts there.

“Nearly 200 militants have been killed in these operations,” Janan Mosazai, the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, told journalists last week. Pakistani security officials believe that TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah is also hiding in Afghanistan’s border regions. The Fazlullah faction had claimed credit for the December 16, 2014 deadly rampage at the Army Public School in Peshawar that killed 150 students and staff.

The APS attack and subsequent visit of army chief General Raheel Sharif led to increased coordination and cooperation between Pakistani and Afghan security forces – and the raid that left Khorasani wounded indicates growing intelligence sharing between the two sides.

Military chiefs of the two countries had agreed in a December meeting at the GHQ in Rawalpindi to coordinate operations against Taliban militants on their respective sides of the Durand Line. They had also reached an understanding on reactivating joint border coordination centres for sharing information on militants. Previously, the two countries accused each other of harbouring militants.

The raid also coincided with an Afghan government decision to send its army cadets for military training in Pakistan. A group of six cadets from the Afghan National Army has formally joined the 18-month long course at the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul in a sign of deepening military-to-military relations.

A high-level five-member Afghan military delegation, led by Maj Gen Nematullah Khushiwal, Director General of Training of the ANA, was also in Pakistan on Thursday for security talks with their counterparts, according to the Afghan Embassy. The visit was preceded by a five-day tour by a 10-member delegation of the Afghan border police that held border security talks with their Pakistani counterparts.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2015.