Islamabad- A top Pakistani Taliban commander, Omar Khalid Khorasani, has been injured in a joint operation by the Afghan and NATO forces on the Afghan side of the border, a spokesman for Khorasani said today.
Khorasani is the supreme commander of the splinter group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, it is blamed for several deadly attacks in the country.
“Omar Khalid Khorasani was injured in a joint operation by the Afghan and NATO forces in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province,” spokesman for the group, Ehsanullah Ehsan told the media. “Khorasani has now been shifted to a safe place and he is improving,” Ehsan was quoted as saying.
He also confirmed that nine fighters of the group were also killed in the attack few days ago. “The clashes continued for two days,” the spokesman said.
The TTP Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack at the border town of Wahga, in November which killed 60 people and injured many others. The suicide attack was carried out on the people, who were watching the traditional lowering of Pakistani national flag along the border with India.
Khorsanni was once the senior commander of the TTP, but he was expelled last year after he and some other senior commanders formed their own group.
Pakistani officials say, several Pakistani Taliban leaders have crossed the border into Afghanistan and now operate from there. Afghan and Pakistani officials have not commented on the incident. Pakistani security officials believe that the TTP chief, Mauvi Fazalullah, is also hiding in the border region of Afghanistan.