ISLAMABAD: The son of the Pakistani Taliban chief Maulvi Fazlullah and 20 other militants were killed in a US drone strike on a camp in the border region of eastern Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said on Thursday.
A senior Pakistani intelligence official said that the US drone fired two missiles at the militants in the rugged mountainous region in Kunar province near the Pakistani border on Wednesday.
Anayat Safi, an Afghan elder in Asadabad, the capital of Kunar, told Arab News that the strike was carried out in the Chowgam area of Shortan district.
An intelligence field report available to Arab News said that Abdullah, son of Maulvi Fazlullah, the chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was among the dead.
Locals said the militants were “out for physical training” when an American unmanned aircraft fired on them on Wednesday morning.
Those killed belonged to Swat, Dir and Swabi districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (KP), according to the report.
A Taliban leader, who is familiar with Pakistani Taliban activities in Afghanistan’s border region, told Arab News that most of the TTP leaders and fighters from KP areas have sanctuaries in Shortan region, from where they can sneak into the Bajaur tribal region for attacks and also into Afghanistan’s Nuristan province.
Pakistani officials insist Fazlullah, who fled to Afghanistan after the major military operation in Swat in 2009, is leading militants from the Afghan border region.
Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah told the Voice of America in November last year that TTP had a foothold in Afghanistan, taking advantage of the instability created by the insurgents fighting the Afghan government.
In December 2015, Abdullah told delegates of a Pakistan-Afghanistan track II dialogue in Kabul that Fazlullah had survived several operations by Afghan security forces but that he would not escape forever.
The presence of the militants is one of the major irritants in relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Kabul says that Afghan Taliban leaders live in Pakistan and plan cross-border attacks from there.
A US drone killed Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in Balochistan in May 2016 shortly after he entered the country from Iran.
Several other Taliban leaders including former minister Abdul Raqeeb, Haqqani Network leader Dr. Naseer Haqqani and Taliban governor for Kabul, Maulvi Daud, have been killed in recent years.
A senior Pakistani intelligence official said that the US drone fired two missiles at the militants in the rugged mountainous region in Kunar province near the Pakistani border on Wednesday.
Anayat Safi, an Afghan elder in Asadabad, the capital of Kunar, told Arab News that the strike was carried out in the Chowgam area of Shortan district.
An intelligence field report available to Arab News said that Abdullah, son of Maulvi Fazlullah, the chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was among the dead.
Locals said the militants were “out for physical training” when an American unmanned aircraft fired on them on Wednesday morning.
Those killed belonged to Swat, Dir and Swabi districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (KP), according to the report.
A Taliban leader, who is familiar with Pakistani Taliban activities in Afghanistan’s border region, told Arab News that most of the TTP leaders and fighters from KP areas have sanctuaries in Shortan region, from where they can sneak into the Bajaur tribal region for attacks and also into Afghanistan’s Nuristan province.
Pakistani officials insist Fazlullah, who fled to Afghanistan after the major military operation in Swat in 2009, is leading militants from the Afghan border region.
Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah told the Voice of America in November last year that TTP had a foothold in Afghanistan, taking advantage of the instability created by the insurgents fighting the Afghan government.
In December 2015, Abdullah told delegates of a Pakistan-Afghanistan track II dialogue in Kabul that Fazlullah had survived several operations by Afghan security forces but that he would not escape forever.
The presence of the militants is one of the major irritants in relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Kabul says that Afghan Taliban leaders live in Pakistan and plan cross-border attacks from there.
A US drone killed Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in Balochistan in May 2016 shortly after he entered the country from Iran.
Several other Taliban leaders including former minister Abdul Raqeeb, Haqqani Network leader Dr. Naseer Haqqani and Taliban governor for Kabul, Maulvi Daud, have been killed in recent years.
