Pak: Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Swat commander killed in operation

Pakistan security forces killed the former group commander of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Swat in an Intelligence-Based Operation (IBO) in the Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, The Express Tribune reported.

The former TTP Swat commander was infamous for whipping women and was identified as Naik Muhammad alias Niko alias Umar.

The Pakistan Army and the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) conducted a successful IBO in the Fizagat area of Swat.

According to reports, he was a close aide of former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Swat chief Mullah Fazlullah and the leader of the whipping team of the group in the early days of militancy in Swat, The Express Tribune reported.

Muhammad was also involved in dozens of terror activities against security forces in Swat at a time when the militancy is on the rise in the country, the report added.

After Operation ‘Rah-e-Rast’ in Swat, he fled to Afghanistan with his family.

However, earlier this year, he got back in Swat with the formation of the TTP formation and started the targeted killing of police officials.

He also started receiving extortion calls for the TTP, according to The Express Tribune.

Meanwhile, in June, Muhammad along with his other accomplices targeted two police constables near the Mingora vegetable market.

The terrorist commander carried out suicide attacks as part of a plan to impede the law and order situation in Swat.

He also planned to target the DPO through an improvised explosive device, the report stated.

However, the Pakistan Army and other law enforcement agencies are actively eradicating individuals or organisations involved in the Swat Valley.

Earlier, nine Pakistan soldiers were Killed and five others were injured in a suicide attack on a military convoy in Jani Khel general area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district, Dawn reported citing the army’s media affairs wing.

According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), a “motorcycle-borne suicide bomber exploded himself on a military convoy”.

Since the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) ceasefire with the government ended last November, Pakistan has seen an increase in terrorist activity, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, Dawn reported.

According to a report published in July by the think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, the country saw an alarming spike in terror and suicide attacks in the first half of this year, which claimed the lives of 389 individuals, Dawn reported.

Source » theprint.in