ISLAMABAD: A counter-terrorism official on Thursday confirmed that the chief of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s Sindh chapter, Abdul Wahab Lark, had been killed in Afghanistan.

Wahab was killed in Kandahar city on Tuesday by unidentified gunmen. His killing was initially reported by the Afghan media on Wednesday.

The counter-terrorism official said he was shot dead around 10.30am by two unknown attackers. Wahab — who was also known by aliases Hakeem Ali Jan, Hakeem Saleh, Khushi Mohammad and Khanushi Badosh — had joined the TTP in July/August 2020 and was currently leading its Sindh chapter.

He previously belonged to Usman Saifullah Kurd’s group of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a sectarian outfit, and had later joined the TTP along with a number of LeJ militants. He had pledged allegiance to the group’s emir Noor Wali Mehsud.

The TTP had on Aug 5, 2020, announced that Wahab had merged his faction of LeJ with it. The TTP had included him in its folds for reinforcing its operational capacity. The official said his name was written in the Red Book which contains the names of high-profile terrorists.

He was reportedly involved in the Jan 30, 2015, suicide attack on Shikarpur Imambargah in which 53 people were martyred and the Aug 15, 2014, attack on PAF Samungali Base, Quetta, and Army Aviation Base Khalid.

Wahab, according to the counter-terrorism official, was also involved in target killings of Shia Muslims. He executed terrorist activities in North Waziristan and was currently planning to carry out suicide attacks in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2022