Afghan officials claim five Pakistani militants killed in Kunar drone strike

PESHAWAR: Afghan officials claimed a former Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander from Bajaur Agency, Abu Bakr, was among those killed in a US drone strike in Shegal district of Kunar province in Afghanistan on Saturday.

 An unmanned aircraft of the foreign forces targeted and killed five Pakistani gunmen in the Shaltan Darra area in Shegal district, Kunar police chief Abdul Habib Syedkhel told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP).

The deceased were members of the TTP in the past, he said, adding that they had recently joined Daesh.

According to Syedkhel, the head of the fallen gunmen was identified as Abu Bakr. However, it wasn’t clear if this Abu Bakr was the same person who headed the TTP in Bajaur Agency and had fled to Kunar province after the Pakistan Army action in Bajaur.

Some sources told the AIP that the attack was carried out at around 12 pm, adding that most of the dead were residents of Bajaur.

Nothing has been said about the existence of Daesh in Kunar so far.

However, the killing of Daesh fighters in Kunar showed that this group has stretched its wings to this province of Afghanistan.

The Daesh fighters are reportedly present in Nangarhar, Nuristan, Logar, Paktia, Helmand, Farah and Zabul provinces of Afghanistan.—Originally published in The News