PESHAWAR: A key militant commander and his two associates were gunned down by security forces in an intelligence-based operation (IBO) carried out in district Kohat’s Darra Adam Khel area, official sources said.

Officials said that the security forces planned the operation following intelligence about presence of the banned outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakis­tan’s (TTP) commander Zafar Khan alias Zafari, adding that the agencies and security forces adopted unconventional operational procedures based on corroborated intelligence.

Officials sources said that Zafari, also a former member of Tehreek-i-Tali­ban Afgha­nistan (TTA), was involved in 26 grenade attacks in Pakistan, adding that the banned outfit’s comma­nder was based in Afgha­nistan and had moved to Peshawar on May 22.

“Zafari was involved in dozens of terrorist attacks against security forces, coal contractors, businessmen and influential people and had collected over Rs100 million in extortion and kidnapping for ransom,” official sources told Dawn.

They said Zafari along with Hasan Khan from Dara Adam Khel and Anas alias Ali, a resident of Nangarhar, Afghanistan, besides other militants were gunned down during the operation.

“Khan was a sniper expert and an expert in grenade attacks and was a part of Tehreek-i-Taliban Afghanistan from 2019 to 2021,” official sources said, adding that he had joined Tariq Gidar group, another Darra Adam Khel-based banned TTP’s group, in 2022 and had visited Afghanistan’s Nangrahar province multiple times.

The officials also said the third militant killed in the operation was Anas. “Anas too was a sniper expert and was also involved in attacks against security forces in districts North Waziristan and South Waziristan,” official sources said.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2023