In a surprising move in the militancy-stricken North Waziristan Agency, unknown assailants shot dead a senior Taliban commander, Maulvi Noor Mohammad, near Miramshah.Official sources told The News by phone from Miramshah on Sunday that Maulvi Noor Mohammad was travelling in a car near Gora Qabrestan when he came under attack.
According to sources, he died on the spot and the attackers managed to flee the area. Maulvi Noor Mohammad, 40, belonged to Saidgai town, located near the border with Afghanistan's restive Khost province.
He was associated with the Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led Taliban militants but at the same time kept close ties with the Afghan Taliban and was reportedly taking part in the fight against the US-led troops in Afghanistan.
"He is the first important militant commander shot dead by unknown assailants in Waziristan where over 300 tribesmen have been killed during the past few years by unidentified people," said a security official.
Pleading anonymity, the official said no one had so far claimed responsibility for killing Maulvi Noor Mohammad, who himself once led a group of well-trained armed militants. He said it could be a targeted killing, as the tribesmen in North Waziristan generally believe that militants operating there are involved in kidnappings and blind murders in the region.
The official said kidnapping for ransom was the major source of resource generation for the militants operating in the lawless tribal areas along the Pak-Afghan border.
Our Kalaya correspondent adds: The body of a pro-government tribal elder, kidnapped last week, was found dumped in the Ferozkhel Mela area in the Orakzai Agency, tribal sources said on Sunday.
The sources said unidentified armed men had kidnapped tribal elder Malik Taj Muhammad from the Ferozkhel area last week. The kidnappers killed and dumped his beheaded body in the Ferozkhel Mela area without making any demand, the sources said.
About 23 pro-government elders hailing from the lower parts of the Orakzai Agency have been killed so far by the militants. Nearly 500 elders have left the agency due to the fear of being killed.