TTP denies Pakistan’s most wanted terrorist Fazlullah is dead

PESHAWAR (Web Desk) - Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Mullah Fazlullah was killed among 20 militants in fresh air and ground strikes in parts of Khyber Agency’s Tirah Valley near Pakistan-Afghanistan border, private televisions reported Sunday night.

Fazlullah had earlier escaped Swat Valley in 2009 when the military flushed out terrorists.

The first reports of Fazlullah’s death came over Twitter and Facebook from Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence’s official accounts.

However, military and independent sources declined to confirm reports that poured in late Sunday night.

Early this morning, the spokesperson for different Taliban groups also denied that Pakistan’s most wanted terrorist was dead.

"These reports are absolutely baseless rumors," spokesperson Mohammad Khorasani told media outlets speaking over phone from an undisclosed location.

Another Taliban spokesperson from splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar also denied the reports.

In a series of tweets, the Defence Ministry said Fazlullah, who planned various major terror acts, was killed Friday night on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The ministry said TTP chief Fazlullah was taken out by Pakistani Air Force jets after the killing.

Besides allegedly ordering ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, Fazlullah had also claimed the responsibility for an assassination attempt on Malala Yousufzai [last year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate] in 2012 and was the mastermind of the deadly Peshwara school massacre of 148 in December last year.

The operation to hunt down Fazlullah was conducted after Army Chief General Raheel Sharif rushed to Afghanistan, the day of Peshawar school attack, demanding the Afghan government take action against TTP’s most-feared leader hiding there.

The army chief shared intelligence details with the Afghan officials which showed Fazlullah giving directives to terrorists from his hideout in Afghanistan.

The Army Public School massacre, Pakistan’s deadliest ever terror attack, prompted the government to announce a tough crackdown on terrorist groups, lift a moratorium on death penalty in all cases, and amend the constitution to set up military courts for speedy trial of terrorism cases.