Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Maulvi Faqir Mohammad escaped a drone strike at a compound in Chawgam village, in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Kunar which borders Pakistan.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) learned from two TTP sources that Faqir Mohammad was the target of the strike but he was not present in the compound at the time of the attack.
“Maulvi Faqir Mohammad was not present at the time… two fighters of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan were wounded”, one source said.
The compound was allegedly being used as a base by the TTP fighters to launch attacks across the border in Pakistan.
Faqir Mohammad spent many years in Afghanistan’s Bagram prison after he was captured by the US-backed Kabul government. However, he was among the numerous prisoners released after the Taliban took over Kabul in August this year.
Bilal Karimi a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, told AFP from Kabul, that the strike was an explosive fired from the ground. It is not evident who was responsible for the attack.
On December 9 this year, the TTP announced an end to the month-long ceasefire declared on November 8, while accusing the government of failing to uphold its end of the bargain. TTP in a statement accused the government of having failed to implement the agreement.
The statement said that the security forces conducted raids in Dera Ismail Khan, Lakki Marwat, Swat, Bajaur, Swabi, and North Waziristan and killed and detained militants.
