Nine militants, pro-govt militia leader killed in Pakistan

The Taliban on Wednesday stepped up attacks on civilians and pro-government tribesmen in northwest Pakistan, killing five persons including a politician and a militia leader even as nine militants were killed in violence in the restive region.

Updated on: Jul 29, 2009, 21:46:40 IST

PTI | By Rezaul H Laskar, Islamabad

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The Taliban on Wednesday stepped up attacks on civilians and pro-government tribesmen in northwest Pakistan, killing five persons including a politician and a militia leader even as nine militants were killed in violence in the restive region.

In a bid to instill fear among its opponents before the Pakistan Army's impending operation in Waziristan, 50 heavily armed Taliban militants stormed into the premises of a leader of a pro-government 'lashkar' or tribal militia in Shangla district in restive Malakand division and shot him dead.

Rehman is the second big lashkar leader to have been killed by the Taliban over the past five weeks. Earlier, another top militant commander Qari Zainuddin, a rival of Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, was shot dead.

Haji Khalil Khan, a leader of the opposition PML-Q and a relative of former federal minister Amir Muqam, was killed this morning when militants attacked his 'hujra' or guesthouse in a village in Shangla.

Khan's son and two relatives were injured in the attack, police said. Khan's relatives exchanged fire with the militants, killing two of them.

Witnesses and locals said this was the first time Taliban fighters had resurfaced in Shangla since the military launched operations against them in the region in May.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More

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