NORTH WAZIRISTAN: Nine people, including five children, were killed and more than 15 others were injured when a suicide bomber struck the main headquarter of anti-TTP militant commander Maulvi Nabi Hanfi in Spin Thall area on the border of the tribal regions of North Waziristan and Kurram, official sources said.

Official and intelligence sources said that the suicide bomber on foot entered Mullah Nabi Hanfi’s headquarter located near Thall Tehsil of the Hangu district on the border of Kurram and North Waziristan and blew himself up.

Official sources said those killed in the explosion included five children and four suspected militants hailing from the Maulvi Nabi group.

Moreover, the injured had been shifted to hospitals in Hangu.

Maulvi Nabi was once part of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) but had parted ways with the organisation upon developing some differences. He had formed his own group and since then loyalists and supporters of the TTP and of Maulvi Nabi had been in clashes that claimed casualties on both sides.

The TTP’s Mullah Toofan based in the Orakzai tribal region is the main rival of Maulvi Nabi.

Nabi’s differences with the Hakeemullah Mehsud-led TTP had risen due to a power struggle with Mullah Toofan to control the strategic bordering areas of Thall tehsil adjoining the tribal areas of Kurram and North Waziristan.

Though no one has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack, intelligence officials believe Maulvi Nabi’s rival TTP-led militants were likely to be behind the attack.