MIRAMSHAH: Senior Taliban leader Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani and his two guards and driver were shot dead in North Waziristan on Monday.

According to sources, Bhittani’s vehicle was attacked near Darga Mandi in Ghulam Khan tehsil, about 5km west of here, when he came out of his home. The attackers were in a vehicle with tinted glasses.

Another guard travelling in the vehicle was injured and taken to a private hospital.

The sources said that Bhittani was a senior member of the Teheek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s shura and he served as acting chief of the outlawed organisation after Hakeemullah Mehsud’s death in a drone attack, till the elevation of Mullah Fazlullah. He was on the list of the most wanted TTP ‘commanders’ and carried a Rs10 million bounty on his head.