Jamaat-ul-Ahrar chief 'critically injured' in Paktia drone attack: sources

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GEO NEWS
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PESHAWAR/KARACHI: Umar Khalid Khurasani, chief of banned militant group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), has been "critically injured" in a US drone strike in Afghanistan's Paktia province, sources told Geo News Tuesday evening.

The strike was conducted close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Paktia on Tuesday. Khurasani, being critically injured in the attack, was moved to an undisclosed location, sources said.

The commander of the banned militant group hails from Mohmand Agency - one of the seven agencies in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) - and goes by the alias Abdul Wali.

On the whole, 31 people have died in three drone strikes near the Pak-Afghan border in Afghanistan over the last 24 hours.

On Tuesday, the US conducted a drone attack in the Khanachi area of Paktia, and killed five people and injured one.

Later in the day, another drone attack killed at least six people and injured one other in the Ghuzdari area of the same province.

On Monday, 20 people were reportedly killed and 10 injured in a drone attack near the same area. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) reportedly fired six missiles during the strike.

According to sources, the strikes targetted hideouts of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and the Haqqani Network and a total of 10 missiles were fired.

Following Monday's strike, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said on a Geo News programme that the United States should not conduct any drone attacks either in Afghanistan or Pakistan, at a time when Afghan peace talks had resumed.

In July, Pakistan welcomed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decision to include JuA in the list of entities subject to travel bans, arms embargos and freezing of assets.

The JuA based in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan has been involved in a series of terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.

Pakistan had proscribed JuA in 2016.

Since 2014, when the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar first surfaced, it proved itself to be a lethal terrorist group, perpetrating some of the most brutal attacks in Pakistan.

The group has been involved in more than 100 terrorist attacks on Pakistani soil.