Pakistan Taliban Chief Fazlullah Killed by US Drone
Mullah Fazlullah was on the hit list of US for quite some time and Pakistan also has declared him in their list of most wanted terrorists.
In a joint US-Afghan air strike in Afghanistan, Pakistani Taliban Chief Mullah Fazlullah has been killed. He is also the one who was behind the attack on Noble Laureate Malala in the year 2012.
The US Military confirmed the killing saying the mission was carried out in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, on the Pak-Afghan border and Fazlullah was killed. In the month of March, US had offered a 5 million dollar reward for the information on Mullah Fazlullah.
Mullah Fazlullah was on the hit list of US for quite some time and Pakistan also has declared him in their list of most wanted terrorists, who is known for his attacks including the Peshawar Army school massacre that killed 132 school children in 2014 and also the shooting of schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai in 2012.
Mohammad Radmanish, spokesperson of Afghan Defence Ministry issued a statement saying, “I confirm that Mullah Fazlullah, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has been killed in a joint air operation in the border area of Marawara district of Kunar province”. The air strike was carried out at about 9 am local time.
The organization he led, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan TTP has also acknowledged that its leader had been killed. TTP has accused the Afghan intelligence service NDS for providing information to the US for the drone attack.
In the diplomatic quarters, the death of Fazlullah is seen as some smooth development in US and Pakistan relationship, which has been strained for quite a sometime. US President Donald Trump has cut more than 1.1 billion dollars in Military Assistance to Pakistan in the month of January accusing it of providing safe haven to the Afghani Taliban and other terror networks in its territory, though Pakistan has denied the charges.
Mullah Fazlullah rose as the Islamist leader in the Swat Valley in the Northwest of Islamabad capital of Pakistan more than a decade ago. He was also known as “Mullah Radio” for his provocative speeches through different broadcasts. He became the leader of TTP in 2013 in the month of November 2013 after the death of Hakimullah Mehsud, who was also killed in a US drone attack in North Waziristan.
He was the first commander of the TTP, who doesn’t belong to the Mehsud tribe in Pakistan’s tribal areas of which most of the members and leaders of TTP were part of, rather he hailed from the northwestern valley of Swat in Pakistan, it is here he waged a gruesome war against the Pakistan between 2007 to 2009 and even afterwards.
Though in recent years the violent attacks have been dropped, the TTP and its affiliate organization continue to carry out attacks targeting the innocent civilians and Pakistani security forces at regular intervals.
According to a statistics around 748 civilians and security forces were a victim of the attacks carried out by the TTP and other rebels groups in 2017. Though in the year 2012 the number of victims was quite high at 3,739.