Exchange of fire: Top Taliban commander gunned down

He was one of five Abids working for the TTP

KARACHI: A Taliban leader was shot dead along with three of his companions during an alleged encounter with law enforcers in the city on Monday night.

The latest encounter

Abid alias Chota Abid, the Karachi commander of a Taliban splinter group, was killed along with three of his companions who were later identified as Fareed Khan alias Lala, Amjad and Sardar Rab during an exchange of fire with the police and Rangers on Monday night in Surjani Town.

Law enforcers claim the encounter took place when the police and Rangers conducted a raid at the militants' hideout after they received information about presence of Chota Abid — the Taliban's Karachi chapter commander, in the area.

The law enforcers also claim to have recovered suicide jackets and explosives from the hideout.

Chota Abid, according to the police, was an expert in making motorcycle-borne improvised explosive devices and was suspected of being the mastermind behind attacks on law enforcement agencies. The police suspect that the group was plotting more attacks.

The deceased commander was the successor of Abid Mucchar — another TTP commander of the Karachi chapter who was killed in an alleged encounter with the Rangers in Musharraf Colony, Hawke's Bay Road, in December last year.

Sources claim that Chota Abid was running the group after Mucchar's death. The source added that Chota Abid was dealing with the Taliban and running its operations in the city.

Another leader with the same name, Abid alias Abid Choto, was killed with four companions in an exchange of fire with the Rangers in Manghopir in June, 2014.

"Three commanders with the same name, Abid, have been killed," said a former SHO of the Manghopir police station, Nasir Mehmood. "The bad news is that there are still two Abids — Abid Sankay and Abid Tor — who are alive and operating in District West."

The target

Over 200 suspected militants belonging to different groups of the Taliban have been killed while several others were arrested during encounters and raids conducted by the police and Rangers in the city since the Karachi operation started in 2013.

Most of these alleged encounters have taken place in areas considered to be Taliban strongholds, Sohrab Goth, Gulshan-e-Maymar, Bin Qasim Town, Landhi, Manghopir, Sultanabad and SITE.

Law enforcers and militants, according to a source, have been giving each other a tough time, particularly in Karachi. Besides Mucchar, Choto and Chota, several other commanders, including Sher Khan Mehsud, Sher Zaman Mehsud, Fakhruddin alias Fakhru and Misbah Mehsud have been killed by the police and Rangers in various encounters.

Top Taliban commanders such as Azizullah Shamzai, Zikria Mehsud, Khan Zaman Mehsud and Zawwel Mehsud are still alive and operating in the city from Manghopir and Sohrab Goth. So far the police have been unable to trace them.

"Initially, all of them worked with the Hakeemullah Mehsud group," said senior police officer Ashfaq Baloch. "Soon after, fights broke out among them, mostly over finances and turf. Many of them formed their own splinter groups, such as the Waliur Rehman, Hikmatyar and Maulvi Fazlullah groups." He added that the militants had also started to target each other.

An officer, who did not wish to be named, said that the group will find a replacement for Chota Abid soon, just as they did for Mucchar.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2015.