TTP's most wanted terrorist to Pakistan killed in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD – Most wanted Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander and a spokesperson for the banned outfit Muhammad Khorasani was killed in the Afghan border province of Nangarhar, it emerged on Monday.

Photos circulating on social media show the TTP leader was shot in the head, however it is yet to confirm who has eliminated him.

Khorasani had replaced Shahidullah Shahid as new spokesperson of the group in 2014 after the latter joined Daesh.

He had established a terrorist hub in Miranshah but he managed to flee Pakistan and took shelter in Afghanistan after the successful military operation "Zarb-e-Azb".

Khorasani was wanted in multiple cases of killing innocent civilians and personnel of security forces. He was making efforts for the unification of different factions of TTP.

Last year, Pakistan demanded the interim Taliban government in Afghanistan to take action against TTP terrorists hiding in their country. A list of most wanted TTP terrorists was also shared with the Afghan Taliban, who regained power in Kabul in mid-August 2021 after toppling former president Ashraf Ghani’s government.

But Afghan Taliban instead offered its good offices to broker a peace deal with the TTP. Pakistan accepted the offer and after some negotiation, both sides reached a ceasefire deal in November.

Last week, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar for the first time publicly spoke about the ceasefire agreement with TTP. He said that the interim Taliban government facilitated a ceasefire agreement with the terrorist outfit.

The month-long ceasefire, however, was ended on December 9 with no further progress.

The DG ISPR said that the talks were on hold with the TTP as the group had put forward some conditional that are not negotiable.

Maj Gen Babar said that operation is being conducted against terrorists on daily basis.