Miranshah: A senior Taliban commander known for training suicide bombers was killed Thursday in a clash between rival factions in Pakistan’s restive northwest, officials and militant sources said.
Ashiqullah Mehsud of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was killed during a clash with a recent breakaway faction near the town of Mir Ali in the North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan.
“Ashiqullah has embraced martyrdom after an enemy attack this morning,” a militant source told AFP.
Local intelligence officials confirmed the death.
Mehsud served on the shura (ruling council) of the TTP, the militant said, and was the successor to Qari Hussain - an infamous commander known as the “father of suicide bombers” for indoctrinating and training young recruits.
More than 60 people have been killed in the violence which erupted in April between supporters of commander of Khalid Mehsud, who was till recently known as Khan Said Sajna, and the followers of the slain former Taliban chief in troubled North Waziristan.
