Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Afghanistan

Two ‘Senior Members’ of ‘Pakistani Taliban’ Killed in Kabul: BBC

2020-02-08

[ToloNews] The BBC reported the liquidation of two senior members of the "Pak Taliban
Taliban

...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
" in Kabul last week.

The killing of the two men, named by the BBC as Sheikh Khalid Haqqani and Qari Saifullah, has raised concerns among Afghan analysts who say that the infiltration of key Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) leaders in Kabul raises a lot of questions.

The Afghan security agencies so far have not commented officially.

However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
a security source speaking to TOLOnews on condition of anonymity said that last week "two men" were "mysteriously" killed in an area near the Intercontinental Hotel in PD5 of the Afghan capital Kabul, which is the location also identified by the BBC report.

According to the source, the Afghan security agencies arrested the assailants.

Sami Yousufzai, a co-author of the BBC report, told TOLOnews that the two men "wanted to go to Kunar from Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
, they were supposed to meet or attend an invitation in Kabul near the Intercontinental hotel, but they were killed there."

Afghan commentators speculated about the alleged meeting and death of the two men:

"Khalid Haqqani and Younus (Qari Saifullah) perhaps came to Kabul to shine a signal and reach sort of harmony with the officials (Afghan officials), I think those people who do not want the Taliban to surrender or end the war plotted this attack on them," said political analyst Ahmad Saeedi.

Haqqani was one of the close aides to former TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud who was killed in a dronezap in 2013. Haqqani was formerly a deputy head of the TTP, and had currently held a "key position" in the group’s leadership council, said the BBC report.

"This is a major blow to the Pak Taliban, it is a great loss for them, the Pak Taliban are currently under massive pressure, some of their leaders have sought refuge in Afghanistan," said Pak journalist Tahir Khan.

Details of the incident will be shared with the public once the investigations are completed, the security source said.

Khaama Press adds:

Sheikh Khalid Haqqani, the former deputy chief of TTP and member of the group’s central committee, along with another commander Qari Saif Peshawari were killed during a fight with forces in Afghanistan on Jan. 31, Mohammad Khurasani, the outlawed militant group spokesman said in a statement.

Khurasani did not disclose details about the incident but said he was on his way for carrying out an attack when Afghan forces stopped his way and killed him.

Afghan government kept it secret and did not share information with the public in this regard.

The questions are why the TTP leaders were in Kabul, how and who killed them.

Another source from TTP said they believe the murder was done by Pakistan’s intelligence service, ISI.

Link

India-Pakistan

TTP names successor to APS mastermind Umar Mansoor

2017-10-19

[DAWN] The Tehrik-e-Taliban
...Arabic for students...
Pakistain (TTP) on Wednesday named a successor for krazed killer commander Umar Mansoor, the criminal mastermind of the Army Public School attack, along with a formal confirmation that he was dead.

Usman Mansoor Hafizullah will replace Umar Mansoor as the faction's commander in Darra Adam Khel and Beautiful Downtown Peshawar

...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
, TTP Spokesperson Muhammad Khorasani said in an email sent to journalists on Wednesday.

Umar Mansoor, who had also grabbed credit for the deadly attack on Bacha Khan University in 2016, was said to be the criminal mastermind of 2014's massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar which left at least 144 people, mostly children, dead.

He was killed in July last year.

Two security bigshots had told Dawn that Umar Mansoor, alias Khalifa Mansour, alias Umar Naray, had been killed, along with another krazed killer leader, Qari Saifullah, in a dronezap

in the Bandar area of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province in July 2016.

One of the officials had said they had credible reports of Mansoor having been killed with Saifullah, who was in charge of jacket wallahs. "What we have is pretty credible," he had said.

Later, then Commander of the Resolute Support Mission, Gen John Nicholson, had called retired Gen Raheel Sharif
..Pak chief of army staff, meaning he pulls the strings on the Nawaz Sharif puppet to make it dance and sing and not do much at all....
and confirmed the death of "terrorist Umar Naray alias Khalifa Umar alias Khalid Khurasani
...intel chief of the Jamaatul Ahrar TTP splinter group, or whatever it's calling itself these days...
" in Afghanistan.

Link

India-Pakistan

Omar Mansoor’s killing a big blow to Pakistan Taliban

2016-07-27

[ATIMES] The death of the notorious Pak Taliban leader Commander Khalifa Omar Mansoor, who had criminal masterminded the carnage at an Army-run school in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
killing 132 schoolchildren on December 16, 2014, comes as a major blow to the proscribed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP).

The American and Pak military authorities jointly confirmed on July 13 that a US drone strike in the Nangarhar

Link

Afghanistan

APS massacre mastermind killed in US drone strike

2016-07-12

[DAWN] The criminal mastermind of the Army Public School massacre, responsible for the death of 144 students and staff members, has been killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan, two security bigshots claim.

They told Dawn that

Umar Mansour, alias Khalifa Mansour, alias Umar Naray, had been killed, along with another murderous Moslem leader Qari Saifullah, in the US drone attack in the Bandar area of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province on Saturday.

One of the officials said they had credible reports of Mansour having been killed with Saifullah, who was in charge of jacket wallahs. "What we have is pretty credible."

There was, however, some confusion over the death of Qari Saifullah. While one official said there were 90 per cent chances that he too had been killed along with Naray, another official said they were still trying to figure out whether he was there on the spot when the drone struck.

The US State Department had on May 25 designated Umar Naray a global terrorist, thus clearing the path for his inclusion in the hit-list. The State Department’s announcement came four days after a drone strike killed Afghan Taliban leader Akhtar Mansour in Balochistan

...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
on May 21. A security official at the time had denied there was any quid pro quo between the two countries.

There is neither any official confirmation from the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) nor any independent source corroborates Naray’s death. However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate...
if true, his death would serve a severe blow to the TTP.

Naray, because of his violent and back-to-back major terrorist attacks, was being regarded by Pak security agencies as a major threat.

"The focus would now be on getting Abdul Wali, alias Omar Khalid Khurasani
...intel chief of the Jamaatul Ahrar TTP splinter group, or whatever it's calling itself these days...
, and Maulvi Fazlullah, also believed to be in Afghanistan," the officials said, adding that Pakistain had shared intelligence and coordinated with Afghanistan, and while Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
did not deny their presence on its soil, they nonetheless cited operational issues to go after them.

Khurasani is operating in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
and Mohmand and is believed to be the main character involved in extortion and assassination'>assassinations in the lovely provincial capital and the tribal region.

Fazlullah, on the other hand, is mostly focused on his native Swat.

Umar Naray was criminal mastermind of the Dec 16, 2014, attack on the Army Public School which had left 122 students and 22 teachers and staff dead. It was one of the worst terrorist attacks which prompted the government to declare an all-out war against terrorist outfits in the country.

The two murderous Moslem commanders belonged to TTP’s Tariq Geedar group and used to operate in Peshawar and adjoining Frontier Region Peshawar and Darra Adamkhel.

Mansour had fled to Afghanistan following a military operation in Khyber tribal region and continued to operate from there. He was held responsible for the Sept 2015 attack on a Pakistain Air Force base in Peshawar’s Badaber area, which left 29 people dead. He was also behind the Jan 2016 attack on the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda in which 18 students and faculty members bit the dust.

Link

India-Pakistan

US blacklists two ‘Pakistan-based’ terrorist groups

2016-05-26

[GEO.TV] The United States on Wednesday designated two ‘Pakistan-based’ groups with links to the Taliban as global terrorist threats.

A statement issued by US State Department said that as ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorists,’ US citizens are forbidden from associating with the Tariq Gidar Group (TGG) and the Jamaat ul Dawa al-Qu’ran (JDQ).

It said any assets owned by the groups in places under US jurisdiction will be frozen, and US law enforcement will be authorised to investigate their activity. The State Department claimed that the TGG is linked to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and is based in Darra Adam Khel.

According to the statement, the Gidar group was responsible for the attack on Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar that killed over 150 people mostly children. The group is led by Umar Mansoor, who is said to also have ordered the January 2016 attack on a university in Charsadda that left more than 20 dead.

US State Department also said the TGG was behind the 2008 kidnapping and beheading of Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak in Attock.

The second group, the JDQ, is said to be based in Peshawar but has sworn allegiance to the late leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Omar. The JDQ also has alliances with Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the statement added.

The group has also been blamed for the 2010 kidnapping of British aid worker Linda Norgrove in Afghanistan. Norgrove died after being wounded in the explosion of a grenade thrown by a US Navy SEAL commando during a failed rescue attempt.

Link

India-Pakistan

Foreign Office summons Afghan diplomat over BKU attack

2016-01-27

[DAWN] The Foreign Office on Monday summoned the Afghan Charge d'Affaires, Syed Abdul Nasir Yousafi, to convey Pakistain's concern regarding the use of Afghan soil by terrorist elements in the Bacha Khan University attack, said a statement issued from the FO.

It said the diplomat was summoned on Monday and was told that investigations revealed the perpetrators of the deadly attack on the varsity were operating from Afghan territory and used the Afghan telecommunication network.

The statement further said relevant evidence had also been shared with the Afghan diplomat. It was conveyed to the Afghan government that they must take action against the perpetrators of the terrorist attack and extend cooperation to Pak authorities in order to bring them to justice, it added.

At least 21 people were killed when unidentified gunnies entered the university in Charsadda town last week and opened fire on students and faculty members.

The criminal mastermind of the APS Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
attack, Umar Mansoor, of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) Geedar group claimed the attack through a post on his Facebook page, adding that four attackers were sent to the university.

Authorities say the Bacha Khan University attack was planned and orchestrated by Pak Talibs based in neighbouring Afghanistan, and called on the Afghan government to co-operate in its investigation.

Five suspects have so far been tossed in the clink
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
for acting as "controllers" to the attack, Pakistain Army's media wing said Saturday.

Pakistain Army has been leading a ground and air operation against turbans in the country's tribal areas since June 2014. The military claims as a result of its operation, which it says has seen phenomenal success, several faceless myrmidons have crossed the border into Afghanistan, from where they are now operating.

Link

India-Pakistan

Taliban faction in Pakistan vows to hit more universities and schools

2016-01-23

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Following a deadly attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
province of Pakistain, a faction of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) has vowed to carry out more similar attacks in the future.

The faction led by Omar Mansoor grabbed credit behind the attack on Bacha Khan University which claimed lives of at least 21 people while scores of others were maimed.

In a videotaped message posted on Facebook social media website, Mansoor warned to target more universities and schools, claiming that such institutions promote democratic governance instead of Muslim theocracy.

He appeared in the video along with the four assailants of Bacha Khan University attack, insisting that the Pak people must 'repent of polytheism and democracy."

Mansoor vowed to disrupt the system and its foundation that has come from Britannia and America and is human made, emphasizing on the establishment of Allah's system and rule.

The Taliban faction led by Mansoor had also grabbed credit behind a deadly attack on a school in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
city of Pakistain late in 2014, which left at least 130 children dead.

There are fears that the latest declaration by Mansoor faction of the Taliban group could begin a new wave of jihadist violence in Pakistain where the country's military has fought to suppress the Death Eaters.

Link

India-Pakistan

Pakistan claims attack on university handled from Afghanistan

2016-01-22

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Pakistain claims the attack on a university in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
province that left 21 people killed and at least 30 others maimed was handled from Afghanistan. "The attackers were in touch with a number from Afghanistan," Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), told a news briefing in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
, according to Pakistain's The Express Tribune news.

"The ~~bandidos~~ Lions of Islam were continuously conversing on their mobile phones, two of which we have recovered and collected data from."

ISPR spokesperson has further said that the SIMs used in the phones were of Afghan origin, adding that a mobile phone recovered from one of the attackers was receiving calls even after he had been killed.

Pakistain's Jamaat--e-Islami party Siraj-ul-Haq has blamed India for the attack

Meanwhile,
...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves...
chief of Pakistain's Jamaat--e-Islami party Siraj-ul-Haq has blamed India for the attack saying that there is no doubt India was involved in it.

Afghan government has not yet responded to Pakistain's claim.

Yesterday's attack on Bach Khan University in Charsadda area was carried out by reportedly four attackers which started at around 09:30 and lasted for several hours.

The gunnies took students and instructors as hostages inside the university and engaged in shootout with security forces.

Several kabooms were heard from inside the university where some 3,000 students have been enrolled.

The overall attack left 21 people killed and around 50 others maimed.

Omar Mansoor, identifying himself from the Geedar group of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) grabbed credit for attack.

According to Mansoor, four attackers carried out the attack. Officials also confirm that four attackers were killed in the attack.

However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
Mohammad Khurasani, the central spokesperson for the TTP distanced his group from the attack.

It came a day after a TTP-claimed suicide kaboom at a security post in Karkhano area which is also close to Peshawar left 11 people killed and at least 30 others maimed.

Link

India-Pakistan

Breakthroughs made in identifying Bacha Khan University attackers: DG ISPR

2016-01-21

[DAWN] ter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Asim Bajwa on Wednesday said major breakthroughs had been made in identifying the gunnies who attacked the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda earlier in the day.

The ISPR chief said the terrorists' phone calls had been traced and analysed, and that two cell phones had also been recovered from them.

"When army reached the premises, all four attackers were alive. They were contained in the hostel and were eventually eliminated on the roof and the stairs," informed the ISPR chief. They had a lot of ammo, including grenades, he added.

"Their call logs were analysed and an intelligence picture was established, with most data having been collected," said Lt Gen Bajwa.

Bajwa also said forensics and fingerprints of the attackers had been shared with the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra), adding that "an intelligence picture is also being created with input from Nadra."

"We have gathered almost all relevant data on who they (attackers) were, from where they came and who supported them."

But the ISPR chief said the information is "sensitive" and is being "processed and updated," which will be shared with the public later.

"We cleared the sanctuaries of gunnies after which certain people crossed the border towards Afghanistan and are operating from there. That aspect is also under investigation," he maintained.

Bajwa said gunnies were getting instructions from outside and were receiving calls.

"They (terrorists) are targeting symbols of progress. We are fighting a war against faceless bastards (terrorists)."

The ISPR chief said, "As long as the controllers and financiers of gunnies are present, they can carry out an attack at any place and time. What matters is how we respond to this as a nation."

Intelligence-based operations (IBOs) are being carried out to hunt down the controllers of the gunnies involved in Charsadda attack, he said.

Earlier in the day, unidentified gunnies entered Bacha Khan University in Khyber Pakhtunkha's Charsadda town and opened fire on students and faculty members as they gathered for a poetry recital to commemorate the death anniversary of the activist and leader Bacha Khan.

The criminal mastermind of the APS Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
attack, Umar Mansoor, of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) Geedar group has claimed the attack through a post on his Facebook page, adding that four attackers were sent to the university.

However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
a spokesperson from the TTP, Mohammad Khorasani, issued a conflicting statement shortly after Mansoor's claim, in which Khorasani condemned the attack, terming it "against Shariah".

Khorasani also warned that those "using the naming of TTP will be brought to justice".

Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, a little lightbulb figuratively appeared over Bossy's head...
Nadra completed its report regarding terrorists' identification through finger prints and presented it to the interior minister, read a statement.

The report said that two out of the four attackers were less than 18 years of age. The interior ministry then directed Nadra to share the findings with intelligence agencies.

Link

India-Pakistan

Who is Taliban commander Umar Mansoor?

2016-01-21

[DAWN] The Tehrik-e-Taliban Geedar group commander who claimed the deadly attack on Bacha Khan University in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
's Charsadda Wednesday is Umar Mansoor, the de facto operational head of TTP in KP.

Journalist Hasan Abdullah tells Dawn.com Mansoor is the faction's commander specifically in Charsadda, Darra Adam Khel, Noshera and surrounding areas. "He had been very close to Hakimullah Mehsud's inner circle and was also close to Umar Khalid Khorasani at one time," says Abdullah.

Link

India-Pakistan

Peshawar school massacre mastermind warns of more attacks

2014-12-21

The terrorist who supervised the Peshawar school massacre has threatened more attacks, if the military and the intelligence agencies do not stop anti-terror operations, media reported on Saturday.

Zool never has enough blood...

In a video with English subtitles posted on Tehreek-i-Taleban Pakistan’s (TTP) website, Umar Mansoor said that Tuesday’s attack on the Army Public School which killed 148 people, including 132 children, was in retaliation to army operations, Dawn online reported.

Security agencies had intercepted communication between Umar Mansoor, also known as Khalifa Umar and Umar Narey, and the suicide squad during the seven-hour shooting spree at the school that helped identify him as the main handler. Khalifa, TTP’s ‘commander’ for Peshawar and the arms-manufacturing region of Darra Adamkhel, is head of the Tariq Geedar group.

Authorities traced a call to Afghanistan’s Naziyan district in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.

TTP spokesman, Mohammad Khurasani said in a statement on Friday that TTP men had been “instructed not to target kids in the primary section of the school”.

He's lying of course, he's a spokesman, it's what they do...

“The fidayeen (suicide attackers) were kept informed of these instructions during the attack,” he said.

Link

India-Pakistan

Umar Mansoor mastermind of Peshawar atrocity: TTP

2014-12-19

[DAWN] The most hated man in the country is a 36-year-old father of three and volleyball enthusiast nicknamed "Slim".

His real name is Umar Mansoor and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) say he criminal masterminded this week's massacre of 132 children and nine staff at a school in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
, the deadliest Lion of Islam attack in Pakistain's history.

A video posted on Thursday on a website used by the Taliban shows a man with a luxuriant chest-length beard, holding an admonishing finger aloft as he seeks to justify the Dec. 16 attack. The caption identified him as Umar Mansoor.

"If our women and kiddies die as deaders, your children will not escape," he said. "We will fight against you in such a style that you attack us and we will take Dire Revenge on innocents."

The Taliban say the attack, in which gunnies wearing suicide-bomb vests executed children, was retaliation for a military offensive carried out by the Mighty Pak Army. They accuse the military of carrying out extrajudicial killings.

The accusation is not new. Many courts have heard cases where men disappeared from the custody of security services. Some bodies have been found later, hands bound behind the back and shot in the head, or dismembered and stuffed into sacks.

Some security officials say privately the courts are so corrupt and afraid, it is almost impossible to convict Lion of Islams.

"You risk your life to catch turbans and the courts always release them," said one official. "If you kill them then they don't come back."

The country is so inured to violence that the discovery of such bodies barely rates a paragraph in a local newspaper.

Despite this, the school attack shocked a nation where traditionally, women and kiddies are protected, even in war.

Six Pak Taliban interviewed by Rooters confirmed the criminal mastermind was Mansoor. Four of them said he is close to Mullah Fazlullah

...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan...
, the embattled leader of the fractious group who ordered assassins to kill schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai
...a Pashtun blogger and advocate for girls' education from Mingora, in Swat. She started blogging at age 11-12. She was 15 when a Talib boarded her school bus and shot her in the head in 2012. She was evacuated to a hospital in Britain and the Pak Taliban vowed to kill her and her father. Among other awards, she received the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, which she deserved more than Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Yasser Arafat, or Rigoberta Menchu...
.

"He strictly follows the principles of jihad," one said. "He is strict in principles, but very kind to his juniors. He is popular among the juniors because of his bravery and boldness."

Mansoor got a high school education in the capital, Islamabad, two Taliban members said, and later studied in a madrassa, a religious school.

"Umar Mansoor had a tough mind from a very young age, he was always in fights with other boys," said one Taliban member.

The Taliban video describes him as the "amir", or leader, of Peshawar and nearby Darra Adam Khel. Mansoor deeply opposes talks with the government, the commanders said.

Mansoor has two brothers and spent some time working in the city of Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
as a labourer before joining the Taliban soon after it was formed, in late 2007, said one commander.

His nickname is "nary," a word in the Pashto language meaning "slim", and he is the father of two daughters and a son, said another commanders.

"(Mansoor) likes to play volleyball," said one of the Taliban members. "He is a good volleyball player. Wherever he shifts his office, he puts a volleyball net up."

The Taliban video describes him as the "amir", or leader, of Peshawar and nearby Darra Adam Khel. Mansoor deeply opposes talks with the government, the commanders said.

"He was very strict from the start when he joined," a commander said. "He left many commanders behind if they had a soft corner (of their heart) for the government."

Link

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