[Dawn] A Taliban-claimed bully boy attack in Spin Tall area on the border of Orakzai and Kurram tribal regions killed at least 17 persons and injured another 22, according to security sources.Although Spin Tall is part of settled areas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
's Hangu district
... Hangu is famous for its greenery, hills, beauty and water. Most of the people of this area are Bangash & Orakzai Pashtuns. Part of the Bangash are Shia. The Orakzai and the Sunni Bangash are determined to kill them...
, it has the status of semi-tribal territory.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) front man, Shahidullah Shahid, speaking to Dawn.Com grabbed credit for the attack, saying Mullah Nabi Hanafi had been supporting the government against the TTP and hence was their target as anyone opposing the Taliban ideology and fighting against them would be on the TTP hitlist.
Security sources said that the compound of an anti-Taliban militia commander Mullah Nabi Hanafi was targetted by snuffies who opened fire before detonating an explosive-laden vehicle inside the compound.
The bully boy compund was completely destroyed in the kaboom, Deputy Superintendent of Police Tall Tehsil Shaukat Ali Shah told Dawn.com.
He added that there were reports of at least 17 people dead, including a woman and a child whereas 22 others were maimed.
Security forces reached the site of attack and sealed the area.
Moreover the injured were shifted to the local hospitals as reports of another jacket wallah were received.
The intensity of the kaboom was so huge that the area residents claimed to have felt its jolt similar to that in an earthquake.
There are also reports, whch could not be confirmed by official sources, that Mullah Nabi Hanafi was also injured in the attack.
The intelligence reports said that two attackers who had tried to enter the compound were also bumped off, but the snuffies surrounded the compound and no one was allowed to enter as the injured were rushed out.
The details could not be independently verified as access of media is restricted in the region.
Mullah Hanafi was associated with the Tehrik-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) in the past but later, after developing differences, formed his own bully boy faction to fight against the TTP.
TTP snuffies have also targetted Hanafi's training compunds in the past.
Moreover, Hanafi is also wanted by authorities in connection with the killing of Fareed Khan, a Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) MPA from Hangu, after an tossed in the slammer
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
accused member of his group confessed to the killing.
Orakzai is one of Pakistain's seven semi-autonomous tribal regions in the northwest, where Pak Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked snuffies are said to have carved out strongholds.
Security officials have claimed in the past that up to 92 per cent of Orakzai has been cleared of Death Eaters.