The Pakistani Taliban has confirmed that one of its key leaders and another member of the group were killed in a clash with security forces in Afghanistan.
In a statement published by the SITE monitoring group Friday, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said Sheikh Khalid Haqqani, who served on the group’s consultative council and had been a deputy leader, had been killed January 31.
Haqqani’s close confidant Qari Saifullah Peshawari was also killed in the clash that took place inside Afghanistan during a “mission”, a senior Pakistani Taliban leader told AFP.
Afghan security forces declined to comment, and it was not immediately clear what type of mission Haqqani may have been on. Haqqani was not thought to be related to the Haqqani network, which is also affiliated to the Afghan Taliban.
Both Islamabad and Kabul have long accused each other of allowing militants to shelter in the border regions and launch bloody attacks that threaten regional stability.
Pakistan has been battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency for over a decade, with thousands of civilians and security personnel dying in extremist attacks, especially after the TTP began their campaign of violence in 2007.