4 Threat Matrix: Taliban claim Pakistani military is assassinating commanders

Written by Bill Roggio on September 2, 2010 10:35 PM to 4 Threat Matrix

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2010/09/taliban_claim_pakistani_milita.php

At the end of a report on the Taliban taking credit for the kidnapping of six migrant workers in Chitral, the Taliban spokesman for Swat, Omar Hasan Ahrabi, accused the Pakistani military of assassinating commanders after capturing and imprisoning them. From The News:

The TTP Swat spokesman accused the military authorities of killing Taliban prisoners. He said Qari Abdullah of Charbagh in Swat who was in military custody after his arrest in Karachi's Qasba Colony six to seven months ago was executed recently and the army then claimed he was killed in an encounter. He alleged that another militant Dawa Khan from Spina Ooba in Malam Jabba area was arrested in Charsadda some time ago and executed in the same manner recently. He asked the human rights organizations and the media to highlight these cases, as these were violations of human rights and abuse of prisoners' rights.

While Taliban claims should be taken with a grain of salt, there does appear to be some truth to this report. There have been several reports of Taliban commanders being killed months after after being arrested.

One of the most memorable was the case of Abu Faraj, a dangerous Swat Taliban commander who orchestrated suicide attacks. The Pakistani military claimed it captured Faraj in September 2009. He was later was reported to have been killed during a military operation in Swat in December 2009. The military claimed that Faraj accompanied Pakistani troops during that raid.