The recent killing of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Abdul Wahab Larik in a gun attack in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province is seen as a major blow to sectarian militancy in Pakistan, particularly in Sindh. The assassination has also renewed the debate regarding who has been killing the TTP leaders in Afghanistan since August 15.

Law enforcement officials, TTP sources and Afghan media said Larik, better known by his nom de guerre Maulvi Khush Muhamamd Sindhi, was murdered near Kabul Bank in Kandahar city. Some of the reports suggested that Larik’s own guard had killed him. No one has claimed responsibility for Larik’s killing and the TTP and the Afghan Taliban have not issued any statements in this regard.

A resident of Shikarpur district in Sindh, Larik had in the past served as provincial chief of the Harkat Jihad Islami, a transnational militant group linked to Al Qaeda. Later, he had joined the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, a sectarian terror group, and remained close to one of its key leaders Usman Saifullah Kurd after a split in the group. After Kurd was killed in February 2015, Larik had become the head of the LiJ’ faction Kurd had formed.

A senior law enforcement official who has been associated with the counterterrorism work in northern Sindh, says that it is not clear whether Larik had collaborated with Abdul Hafeez Pandrani. Pandrani, another most wanted militant commander from Shikarpur, was the Sindh chief of the Islamic State or Daesh-Khorasan at that time of his killing in a shootout with the police in February 2019 in Dhadar area of Balochistan.

There have been several sectarian attacks recently in Shikarpur and neighbouring districts.

“Larik and Pandrani had been associated with the LiJ and were involved in sectarian attacks, particularly targetting the Shia community. They might have had a working relationship,” the official told TNS.

In mid-2020, when the TTP chief Mufti Noor Wali renewed efforts to reunify breakaway factions under Al Qaeda moderation, he surprised observers and law enforcement agencies by making an announcement about a string of influential commanders rejoining the ranks. The TTP reunification drive attracted some other militant groups as well. These included LiJ’s Kurd faction, headed by Larik, and two local Al Qaeda affiliates – the Amjad Farooqi and Ustad Ahmad Farooq groups.

In August 2020, the TTP media cell announced that Larik, head of the LiJ’s Kurd faction, had joined the TTP and vowed allegiance to its chief Wali.

According to the Sindh CTD’s Red Book, Larik, 52, was fluent in Urdu, Sindhi, Pashto, and Arabic languages. He had received training in Afghanistan and had been trying recently to revive his militant network in Sindh. Larik used the aliases of Hakim Ali Jan and Khush Muhammad.

Larik’s role in the group following the merger was unknown but law enforcement officials said that he was likely responsible for overseeing the group in Sindh. “Larik’s killing is a major blow to the TTP and its allies among sectarian groups trying to gain a foothold in Sindh,” said the law enforcement official, who also shared photographs of the deceased.

Larik had used the aliases of Hakim Ali Jan and Khush Muhammad, according to the Sindh Counter-Terrorism Department’s Red Book. The publication carries particulars of known militants and their photos or sketches.

According to the CTD Red Book, Larik, 52, was fluent in Urdu, Sindhi, Pashto, and Arabic languages. “He had received training in Afghanistan and had been trying recently to revive his militant network in Sindh,” the publication says.

Larik was involved in a number of sectarian killings, including the 2014 attack on Imambargah Yasrab in Karachi’s DHA Phase 4, and killing of Shia clerics in the city.

Following a crackdown on various TTP factions and other militant groups across Pakistan, the militants had shifted their hideouts to neighbouring provinces of Afghanistan. From there, they would mastermind terrorist attacks carried out in Pakistan and launch cross-border attacks.

Analysts believe that the killing of a key TTP leader is significant in the context of talks between the Pakistani government and the TTP, mediated by the Afghan Taliban that are currently under way.

In January, a former TTP spokesperson, Mufti Muhammad Balti, also known as Muhammad Khurasani, was mysteriously killed near the Pak-Afghan border in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.

In December, a missile was fired at a house where TTP founder Maulvi Faqir Muhammad had been living, near the Pak-Afghan border in Kunar province of Afghanistan.

Mangal Bagh, head of the banned Lashkar-i-Islam, active in the Khyber tribal district, was killed in a remote-controlled bomb blast in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.

In its recent book, Inqilab Mehsud, the TTP has acknowledged that a number of its key leaders have been killed in operations along the border over the past few years. The third (latest) edition of the book, released in January 2020 and authored by TTP chief Wali, names numerous leaders who were killed in the border provinces of Afghanistan.

Recently, the TTP has released a letter directing its leaders and members in Afghanistan to take precautionary measures.

The writer is a Karachi-based journalist and researcher. Twitter @zalmayzia