TTP chief’s son among 21 killed in US drone strike

[Shahzaz ud din]

TTP chief’s son among 21 killed in US drone strike

PHOTO: FILE

PESHAWAR: A US drone struck a hideout of the militants in Kunar province of Afghanistan and killed 21 suspected militants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), including a son of its chief Mulla Fazlullah.

Most of the dead belong to the Swat district of Pakistan – the home town of Fazlullah.

Officials said the drone hit the Chowgam Markaz of the banned outfit in the Shultan area of Shegal district, killing at least 21 would-be suicide bombers.

Khorasani confirmed dead in US drone strike

The officials said one would-be suicide bomber belonged to the Dir district and one to the Swabi district while 18 were from the Swat valley. One dead militant was an Afghan, they added.

An intelligence official said the drone struck on the day the training of the bombers was about to be completed.

According to the official, there was strong evidence that Mulla Fazlullah’s son was among the dead.

It is also believed that Qari Yasin, a notorious trainer of suicide bombers, and Maulvi Gul Muhammad, the group’s head from Bajaur agency, were also killed in the strike.

TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud killed in US drone strike: Reports

“We will have to wait for more evidence to identify the rest,” said another official.

Local sources, on the other hand, say the number of those killed in the drone strike is much higher.

Suicide bombing

A suicide bomber in the eastern Nangarhar province killed a senior religious official and his bodyguard, while a motorcycle blast in southern Kandahar province killed one border police force member on Wednesday, officials and Afghan media reports said.

TTP confirms Mehsud group chief Sajna killed in US drone strike

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in the eastern city of Jalalabad. Aamaq, militant group’s mouthpiece, did not provide any evidence to substantiate its claim.

The suicide bomber approached Abdul Zaher Haqqani, Nangarhar provincial director of religious affairs, and detonated his explosives vest, the provincial governor’s spokesman, Ataullah Khogyani, said. Eleven people sustained injuries in the blast.

Separately, Kandahar Police Chief General Abdul Raziq said one border police force member was killed and another was wounded in the explosion. However, media report said two policemen died and another injured.

With inputs from agencies

 

[Clutch]

Good riddance to bad garbage!!!

Burn in hell khawarji dogs.

 

[Qutb-ud-din Aybak]

and they say Pakistan allegations are baseless that terrorists are using afghan soil to launch attacks on Pakistan.

 

[Solomon2]

and they say Pakistan allegations are baseless that terrorists are using afghan soil to launch attacks on Pakistan.

US hits Pakistani Taliban training camp in eastern Afghanistan
BY BILL ROGGIO | March 8, 2018 | admin@longwarjournal.org | @billroggio

The US military is reported to have struck a training camp in Afghanistan’s remote eastern province of Kunar that was run by the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) earlier today. The son of Mullah Fazlullah, the emir of the TTP, and two commanders, including the camp’s trainer of suicide bombers, are reported to have been killed.

The offensive targeted the Ghazi Camp in Kunar, which borders the Pakistani tribal agency of Bajaur, a former stronghold of the TTP, according to Dawn. The TTP is said to have confirmed the attack in a text message that was delivered to Pakistani media outlets.

In addition to Fazlullah’s son, the US also killed Gul Mohammad, the chief of the TPP in Bajaur and the leader of camp in Bajaur, and Ustad Yaseen, who trained TTP recruits to serve as suicide bombers.

The US military has not commented on the strike. US warplanes occasionally target jihadists of all stripes in Afghanistan.

The most recent instance took place in early Feb., when the US targeted Taliban training camps in the far-flung northeastern province of Badakhshan. The camps were used by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, a terrorist group that is closely allied with al Qaeda, and other terrorist groups.

The US has also targeted the TTP at least one other time since the beginning of Feb. A US drone strike in Pakistan’s tribal agency of North Waziristan killed Sajna Mehsud, the group’s deputy emir and its leader of the influential Mehsud faction in South Waziristan. The US hunted Sajna for at least three years before finally killing him.

The TTP not only battles the Pakistani state in the tribal areas and beyond, but it also aids the Afghan Taliban in its fight against the government and US military.

Pakistani government and military officials often accuse the US and Afghan government of sheltering the TTP. This is done to deflect criticism of its support for the Afghan Taliban and other terrorist groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba.

However, the US has killed far more TTP leaders, commanders, and operatives in its drone campaign inside Pakistan. The first two emirs of the TTP, Baitullah Mehsud and Hakeemullah Mehsud, were killed by US drones. Yet the Pakistani government has criticized these strikes and others as violations of its sovereignty.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

 

[ziaulislam]

US hits Pakistani Taliban training camp in eastern Afghanistan
BY BILL ROGGIO | March 8, 2018 | admin@longwarjournal.org | @billroggio

The US military is reported to have struck a training camp in Afghanistan’s remote eastern province of Kunar that was run by the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) earlier today. The son of Mullah Fazlullah, the emir of the TTP, and two commanders, including the camp’s trainer of suicide bombers, are reported to have been killed.

The offensive targeted the Ghazi Camp in Kunar, which borders the Pakistani tribal agency of Bajaur, a former stronghold of the TTP, according to Dawn. The TTP is said to have confirmed the attack in a text message that was delivered to Pakistani media outlets.

In addition to Fazlullah’s son, the US also killed Gul Mohammad, the chief of the TPP in Bajaur and the leader of camp in Bajaur, and Ustad Yaseen, who trained TTP recruits to serve as suicide bombers.

The US military has not commented on the strike. US warplanes occasionally target jihadists of all stripes in Afghanistan.

The most recent instance took place in early Feb., when the US targeted Taliban training camps in the far-flung northeastern province of Badakhshan. The camps were used by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, a terrorist group that is closely allied with al Qaeda, and other terrorist groups.

The US has also targeted the TTP at least one other time since the beginning of Feb. A US drone strike in Pakistan’s tribal agency of North Waziristan killed Sajna Mehsud, the group’s deputy emir and its leader of the influential Mehsud faction in South Waziristan. The US hunted Sajna for at least three years before finally killing him.

The TTP not only battles the Pakistani state in the tribal areas and beyond, but it also aids the Afghan Taliban in its fight against the government and US military.

Pakistani government and military officials often accuse the US and Afghan government of sheltering the TTP. This is done to deflect criticism of its support for the Afghan Taliban and other terrorist groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba.

However, the US has killed far more TTP leaders, commanders, and operatives in its drone campaign inside Pakistan. The first two emirs of the TTP, Baitullah Mehsud and Hakeemullah Mehsud, were killed by US drones. Yet the Pakistani government has criticized these strikes and others as violations of its sovereignty.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

we thought there are no Taliban in Afghanistan