Another anti-Taliban leader assassinated in northwestern Pakistan

Yesterday, the Taliban assassinated the leader of a militia in Buner who opposed the terror group; the Taliban claimed credit for the suicide attack that killed five other people. The Taliban appear to have struck again, this time in Lower Dir, killing the head of on “an anti-Taliban peace committee.” From Dawn:

The chief of an anti-Taliban peace committee and the former UC Nazim of Peshawar’s sub-urban areas, Abdur Rehman was killed in a targeted attack in Fazalabad area in Maidan Tehsil of Lower Dir on Sunday, whereas militants blew up a government school in Mohamand tribal region, DawnNews reported.

The peace committee head, who had survived two previous attempts on his life including a suicide attack, was killed in a targeted attack by unidentified gunmen early on Sunday.

DawnNews sources reported that the former UC nazim was affiliated with the Jamat-i-Islami (JI) party.

Rehman was actively involved in the fight against Taliban militants in the area and had cooperated with the security forces in resisting the Taliban militants in the area, according to local residents.

No one had claimed responsibility for the attack as yet.

This assassination was likely the work of Mullah Fazlullah, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan emir who controlled the Swat Valley from 2007 to 2009. Fazlullah is the commander behind the recent assassination attempt on Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old Pakistani girl who had the courage to speak out against the group for its draconian rule of Swat. Fazullah seeks the imposition of sharia, and is against polio vaccinations and schooling for girls. Fazlullah has eluded Pakistani security forces since being ousted from Swat in the spring of 2009, and operates on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border.

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

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1 Comment

  • mike merlo says:

    hopefully Afghanistan’s NDS & the US intel community exploit these opportunities by indulging in “Monkey Business” in Pakistan

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