US places head-money on top three Pak militant commanders

PESHAWAR: The expected improvement in relations between the United States and Pakistan could increase hardships of the Afghanistan-based Pakistani Taliban as the US Department of Justice placed head-money on top three Pakistani militant commanders.

As per media reports, the US placed head-money of $5 million on Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) head Mullah Fazlullah and $30 million each on Abdul Wali aka Omar Khalid Khurasani and Mangal Bagh.

Also, the Pakistani Taliban on Friday confirmed the loss of their 21 members in a rare US drone strike on their alleged training facility in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province near the border with Pakistan's Mohmand Agency. Those killed in the missile strike included 16-year old Abdullah, the elder son of Mullah Fazlullah Khurasani.

Mohammad Khurasani, spokesman for the proscribed TTP, released a statement to the media on Friday to confirm the killing of their 21 members. He claimed the drone targeted a madrassa and all those killed were students.

Pakistani security authorities were, however, quite sure that all those killed in the drone strike were trained fighters, the majority belonging to Swat. They shared names and home addresses of all the drone victims soon after they were killed in what they termed was a training facility run by Commander Hilal.

As per an account of the security officials, over two dozen militants were being trained in the camp as suicide bombers when it came under attack from the CIA-operated pilotless aircraft.

In the list of slain militants, Abdullah's name was number 7th and he was mentioned as the son of Imam Dherai village in Kabal. In Swat, Fazlullah lived in Imam Dherai from where he first started his campaign by attracting hundreds of people to his emotional Friday sermon. He later began collecting donations and built a huge mosque-madrassa complex on the riverbank. The spacious building was razed to the ground when the military launched a massive offensive in 2009 against him and militants affiliated with him in Swat and adjoining Buner district.

Fazlullah and his men, to the surprise of many, managed to escape to Afghanistan and started attacks against security forces and government installations in Pakistan, mostly in Malakand region.

Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, who is in Washington these days, seems to have found success as Pakistani authorities had long been demanding the US officials to target the Pakistani militants in Afghanistan.

The move by the US to announce head-money on Pakistani militants is a major development in improving relations between the two countries. The three militant commanders are blamed for the deadliest terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

The TTP was behind the terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in which 147 persons, including 122 schoolchildren, were martyred on December 16, 2014. Fazlullah also ordered the attack on Malala Yousafzai in October 2012. Both, Fazlullah and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai belong to Swat.

The TTP had also claimed responsibility for the failed terrorist attack at the Times Square in New York in 2010 by a Pakistani-American, Faisal Shehzad. Pakistani Taliban later released a video that showed Faisal Shehzad sitting among the militants in the tribal areas before leaving for the US to carry out the terrorist attack.

Omar Khalid Khurasani was earlier associated with the mainstream TTP, but later broke away to form Jamaatul Ahrar. His group claimed several terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

Mangal Bagh is head of Lashkar-e-Islam that earlier operated in Khyber Agency and has now escaped to eastern Afghanistan.

Senior defence analyst and Pakistan's former military attaché in Afghanistan Brig (retd) Saad Mohammad termed it a big development and said it seems the US has seriously been trying to address Pakistan's genuine concerns by targeting all those militants involved in terrorism in Pakistan.

"I think Pakistan should also reciprocate and play its role in restoration of peace in the region. If you see, it was the US that killed dreaded Pakistani militant commanders such as Nek Mohammad, Baitullah Mehsud, Hakimullah Mehsud, Qari Hussain and several others," he told The News.