Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s most-wanted militant Mulla Fazlullah has been killed in a drone attack in eastern Afghan province of Kunar, which borders Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal district, security officials confirmed early on Friday morning.

The drone strike killing the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief, who orchestrated the attack on Malala Yousafzai as well as on Peshawar’s Army Public School, was carried out in Marorah area of Kunar on June 13, security officials said.

They said Fazlullah and his four guards were targeted after they attended an Iftar gathering where several militants from Swat valley were present.

All five bodies were burnt in the attack. Their remains were buried early on the morning of June 14 at Bachai Graveyard in Marora district. Fazlullah’s guards killed in the strike were identified as Maulvi Omer, Imran, Sajid and Abubakar.

Afghan defence ministry also confirmed the TTP chief’s killing on Friday. The TTP spokesman has yet to offer a comment. A source told the media on Friday that the outlawed group was waiting for the leadership to reach consensus on the name of the new chief before making a public statement on the matter.

The news of the drone attack that claimed Fazlullah’s life was broke by the Voice of America, quoting unnamed an U.S. official. A spokesman for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan Army Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell later released a statement: “U.S. forces conducted a counter-terrorism strike on June 13 in Kunar province, close to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which targeted a senior leader of a designated terrorist organization.”

Pakistani security officials believe that Fazalullah, who escaped after the military carried out a major anti-terror operation in northwestern Swat valley in 2009, had regrouped his fighters in the border region of Afghanistan. They maintain that most Pakistani Taliban from Malakand division were now based in Kunar province.

Fazlullah was appointed the TTP chief after a U.S. drone killed his predecessor Hakimullah Mehsud in North Waziristan region. His death is likely to prove a serious setback for the TTP at a time when the US has surged drone strikes on militant hideouts along the Afghan side of the Pak-Afghan border. TTP is also divided in several factions and faces challenge from the Islamic State, or Daesh. Pakistani forces also target the outfit’s sanctuaries in what Pakistan claims are ungoverned areas on the Afghan side to push back against TTP and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar attacks on Pakistani border posts and villages.

Fazalullah’s son Abdullah, 17, was also killed in a U.S. drone strike in Kunar along with 20 other militants.

Earlier in February, a US drone strike had killed the TTP deputy chief Khan Said alias Sajna in Bermal district of Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province.

Analysts believe that the TTP leadership could face problems in electing a new leader in view of the previous split between the Mehsud Taliban and those belong to other areas, especially Malakand region. The Mohmand faction of the Taliban has separated and formed the Jamaatul Ahrar.

Meanwhile, the latest US strike suggests growing cooperation between the US and Pakistan. The latter has long been demanding the US-led NATO and Afghan forces to target Fazalullah and other militants, who carry out attacks in Pakistan. It is also believed that Pakistan is now encouraging the Afghan Taliban to come to the negotiation table.

Senior American leaders recently underlined Pakistan’s role in the Afghan peace process at a time when Pakistan and Afghanistan have also agreed to increase military-to-military and intelligence cooperation.

Although, Afghan Taliban have denied role of any other country, it is widely believed that Pakistan and the US played a role in the Taliban ceasefire with the Afghan government.

Published in Daily Times, June 16^th 2018.