Pakistan Taliban Chief Omar Killed in Afghanistan.

According to Taliban spokesperson Muhamad Khorasani, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Omar Khalid Khorasani and two more militants of the outlawed group were murdered on Monday in an attack by a roadside bomb blast in Afghanistan. 

In a statement released yesterday, August 8, TTP authorities said that on Sunday night an attack took place on the car transporting Omar. The attack took place in the eastern Paktika province close to the Barmal area. They have asked the Afghan Taliban administration to look into the tragedy. They have also further urged to find any “spies” who might have been behind the deaths of key TTP commanders.  

The TTP was originally led by Omar, whose true name was Abdul Wali Mohmand, in the Mohmand Agency that borders Afghanistan. It is important to note that Omar participated in TTP discussions with Pakistani government representatives and Pashtoon jirgas. And most recently he was in the talk process with religious experts for the past several weeks.  

The death of the TTP commander may be viewed as a huge setback for the organization. Particularly at a time when it is in negotiations with the Pakistani national government. The name of two additional individuals slain in the incident, in addition to Omar, is Mufti Hassan, and Hafiz Dawlat Khan. They were among a number of TTP commanders who affiliated with Daesh back in 2014.  

Previously, a jirga member had shared a photo of the TTP chairman. The photo was taken on the sidelines of a meeting held with Pakistan’s side a month back. The meeting consisted of two rounds of negotiations in Kabul in the first week of June and late July.  

Formation of TTP  

Back in 2014, Omar as well as the bulk of TTP militants from the Mohmand agency split from their parent organization TTP. Omar had said that the TTP’s top brass had strayed from the group’s principles. Then they established the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat Ahrar (TTP-JA). After he declared the creation of his own outfit the then-TTP president Maulvi Fazalullah fired him. Interestingly enough, Jamaat ul Ahrar included practically all of the Taliban officials from the Mohmad Agency.

This organization gained notoriety after Jamaat-ul-Ahrar leader Ehsanullah Ehsan accepted responsibility for the suicide bombing at the Wagah border. The bombing in November 2014 resulted in the deaths of over 70 people and almost all were civilians.  

US Hunt for Taliban

Because of his role in several assaults on local security officers, tribal chiefs, and members of the peace committee, Omar was targeted by the Pakistani government. A sanctions committee of the UNSC recognized Jamaat-ul-Ahrar’s inclusion in the list. The list is of individuals and organizations who are subject to an asset freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo. This development took place in July 2017 at Pakistan’s request. Then in March 2018, the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice updated its wanted list to include Omar. A bounty of up to $3 million was offered by the US for providing intelligence about him.   

Because of armed operations in the tribal areas of Swat and portions of the Malakand division, numerous TTP commanders crossed the border to escape. However, after they crossed the border US targeted them successfully including the former head of TTP. In June 2018, a US drone attack in Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan killed Fazlullah, another TTP commander in Swat.  

In addition to the TTP, Hafiz Saeed Khan, the leader of Daesh in Khorasan, was also killed in a US drone attack in the province of Nangarhar in July 2015. Furthermore, it resulted in the deaths of former TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid and 24 other terrorists. In October 2014, Shahid and Saeed Khan joined Daesh. Umar Mansour, alias Khalifa Mansour, was murdered in an American drone attack in Afghanistan back in July 2016. He was the perpetrator of the 2014 attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, which resulted in the martyrdom of over 150 people.