TTP Karachi chief Haji Daud reportedly killed in Afghanistan

Even after fleeing to Afghanistan’s bordering provinces from law enforcement agencies’ crackdown on Taliban groups in Karachi, the militant outfit’s infighting that started over turf in the metropolis in 2013 still continues, and in recent days, two important Karachi commanders, including the recently appointed chief for the city, have reportedly been killed somewhere in the Kunar province of the neighbouring country, The News has learnt.

Haji Daud and Hazratullah alias Tora Shpa (a Pashto word meaning black night) have been gunned down during fighting between two factions of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s Mehsud chapter somewhere in the bordering areas of Afghanistan, according to Taliban’s social media accounts and Mehsud tribal elders in Karachi. However, The News could not verify the claims independently.

Both commanders reportedly killed recently belonged to the TTP’s Hakimullah faction, which is now headed by Sheharyar Mehsud after his killing. Khan Said alis Sajna, who became leader of his faction after the killing of Waliur Rehman, headed the rival faction.  

In November, Maulana Fazullah, the TTP’s central head, had appointed Haji Daud, a former policeman in Karachi, as the outfit’s new chief for the metropolis. In a two-minute video message in Pashto, Fazullah, seen standing with Daud, had instructed all factions of the organisation in the city to follow the new chief’s directives.

Hazratullah, a loyal commander to Hakimullah, headed a separate unit called ‘Tora Spha’, which is involved in funds-collection through extortions, kidnappings for ransom and robberies in Karachi. 

Pashtun traders and transporters are familiar with the group’s name and have paid them billions of rupees in extortion due to fear of backlash from militants. However, during the ongoing crackdown in the city, most of the group’s commanders have been killed or arrested, and some of them have fled to Afghanistan, according to well-informed Pashtun leaders.

A senior law enforcement official, who has been monitoring various Taliban factions in the city, said that if reports of the killing of both commanders were true, it would be a great blow to the TTP.  

“We do not know yet if it is true or not,” he told The News, requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to talk to media. “But it seems militants of a rival faction had killed them.”

Another official in a police counter-terrorism department said Daud had been killed a few weeks ago in Afghanistan.

Infighting between the two TTP factions began when fighters loyal to Waliur Rehman killed Sher Khan, a Karachi operational commander appointed by Hakimullah, in the Manghopir area in August 2013 over turf and collection of extortion money from Pashtun transporters and businessmen.

In the following months, dozens of militants from both sides had been killed in the infighting, which was in fact part of the larger turf war.  

However, because of the launch of the operation, the networks of both outfits have been shattered as most of their commanders and militants have been either killed or arrested. Also, a number of commanders have fled to bordering parts of Afghanistan. 

However, the law-enforcement agencies are still searching for Khan Zaman alias Goonga, an important commander of the Sajna group.            

“The leaders of both factions are no longer in Karachi and it is very difficult for them to effectively operate the outfit from Afghanistan,” said a Mehsud community elder.