GHALANAI, Jan 21: Umer Khalid, the chief of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in the Mohmand tribal region, was killed along with four other key commanders in a military operation in Lakaro area on Wednesday morning, a security official claimed.

He told Dawn that Umer Khalid was killed and his deputy Qari Shakeel injured when security forces, backed by artillery and helicopter gunships, pounded Taliban’s hideouts in the area.

He also claimed that a number of Taliban militants, including commanders, had been killed over the past few days.

However, a Taliban spokesman denied the report and said Umer Khalid was in a safe location.

“Our amir is alive and will address media personnel in a few days,” he said from an unspecified location.

“The death of commander Umer Khalid was a rumour spread by our enemies,” he added.

Umer Khalid (real name Abdul Wali) rose to prominent in July 2007 when he along with more than 200 armed men occupied the shrine of freedom fighter Haji Sahib Turangzai and named an adjacent mosque in Lakaro, about 35kms from Ghalanai and near the Afghan border, as Lal Masjid.

Stronghold captured

Meanwhile, security forces took control of the Ziarat marble mountain, a stronghold of the Taliban, after heavy clashes.

Officials said that militants, who had dug trenches and built bunkers near the mountain, offered stiff resistance to the advancing troops. They said that troops were consolidating their position after the militants fled the area.

The operation was carried out by the Frontier Constabulary, Mohmand Riffles and Khasadars.

Helicopter gunships and artillery bombed militants’ positions in Karer, Qandaharo and Khan Bahadar Korona areas. A tehsil building in Pandyali, which had been occupied by the militants, was also attacked.

Clouds of thick black smoke were billowing from the areas as shelling continued till late night.