Unconfirmed reports late on Friday night said that TTP chief Maulana Fazlullah was killed in an air attack in Afghanistan.
Ministry of Defence via its Facebook page said that TTP commander Fazlullah was taken out by by Pakistani Air Force jets in Afghanistan.
Quoting sources, some private TV channels said the move came as a result of the joint operation by Pakistan military and the Isaf force in Afghanistan. They said intelligence sharing enabled them to target the man who was said to have masterminded the bloody attack on a Peshawar school earlier this week.
The first reports of Fazlullah’s death came over Facebook and Twitter from Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence’s official accounts. However, there was no word yet from the Pakistani military.
Scores of militants killed across Pakistan
Staff Reporters and agencies add: The security forces, stepping up their campaign after the mass murder in an army-run school in Peshawar, killed scores of militants on Friday in different operations across Pakistan.
An ambush by the security forces in the northwest left at least 32 militants dead. In a separate operation, 18 more militants were killed in Khyber, the military said and added 27 were killed in airstrikes and ground operations on Thursday
The army has been carrying out a major offensive against Taliban and other militant strongholds in the restive tribal areas on the Afghan border for the last six months.
After the Peshawar attack which claimed 148 precious lives of students and staff of the school, the military has stepped up its campaign against the militants.
At least eight suspected militants, including a local Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander, were killed by security forces in Ziarat district here on Friday morning.
According to the security sources, an operation was conducted in the Chotair area of Ziarat during which a TTP commander of Balochistan chapter, Najamuddin, and seven other militants were killed.
The security forces also claimed to have recovered arms and ammunition from the possession of the militants. The sources said the slain militants were involved in kidnapping and other terrorist incidents in the area. They added that the slain militants appeared to be non-locals.
The incident occurred a day after the security forces and police picked up four militants from Quetta’s Eastern Bypass area. The security agencies started interrogating the arrested militants who belong to the country’s volatile tribal belt.
Meanwhile, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s Karachi chapter chief along with his three accomplices was killed in an encounter in Musharraf Colony on Friday, Rangers claimed.
While speaking at a press conference at Rangers Headquarters, Sindh Rangers Colonel Tahir Mehmood claimed TTP Karachi chief Abid Machhar and his three accomplices were killed after exchange of fire when the Rangers conducted their hideout.
He said the encounter took place when the outlaws opened fire at the Rangers during the raid. The Rangers retaliated and killed Machhar and his three accomplices. Machhar was accused of carrying out several bomb blasts, including attacks on Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Awami National Party during the 2013 elections. He was also considered a mastermind behind various incidents of targeted killings and bomb blasts on police and Rangers.
At least two terrorists, Afzal alias Fauji and Qari Hafiz Ahmad, were killed during a police encounter in Gujrat. They were active members of a banned outfit and were involved in dozens of cases like attacking secret service personnel, police officials and other serious crimes.