A top Taliban commander in Pakistan’s tribal belt has survived an assassination attempt that killed four of his fighters.
Maulvi Noor Jamal, the Taliban commander for the Kurram tribal agency who is also known as Mullah Toofan, narrowly escaped a roadside bomb attack and ambush while he traveled in Arakzai. Four of Jamal’s fighters were killed and three more were wounded in the “ensuing melee,” Dawn reported.
It is unclear if Jamal’s convoy was attacked by a rival Taliban group, a tribal militia, or covert special operations forces. Taliban groups have fought local turf wars in Arakzai and Kurram over the past year.
During the month of March, Jamal battled with a rival Taliban commander known as Rafique in central Kurram. Jamal and Rafique inked a truce on March 22.
Jamal is known as a brutal and effective leader who is considered a potential successor to Hakeemullah Mehsud, the overall leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. After Hakeemullah was reported killed in late January 2010, Jamal denied rumors that he had taken control of the Pakistani Taliban. In fact, Jamal claimed Hakeemullah is still alive.
Arakzai remains a battleground between the Taliban and the Pakistani military. The military claims to have killed more than 180 Taliban fighters since heavy fighting began in the tribal agency on March 21.
On March 31, Army helicopter gunships struck Taliban positions in the tribal agency, killing eight Taliban fighters. Twenty other Taliban fighters were killed in separate airstrikes in Arakzai today. The Taliban destroyed a health clinic and five schools.
On March 27, more than 100 Taliban fighters launched an assault on a Frontier Corps outpost and overran it, killing a lieutenant colonel and four troops. The military retook the outpost after a several-hour-long battle. A day later, the Taliban massed to attack another outpost, but the attack was repelled.
Arakzai has become a hub of Taliban activity over the past year. Large elements of the Taliban in the Mehsud regions of South Waziristan have relocated to the tribal agencies of Arakzai, Kurram, Khyber, and North Waziristan, after the Pakistani Army launched an operation in October 2009 [see LWJ report, “Pakistani military hits Taliban in Arakzai“].
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