Blast kills another TTP leader in Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP): A senior Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander was killed by a bomb in eastern Afghanistan, militant and intelligence sources told AFP on Thursday, the latest such incident to target the group in recent days.

Sheharyar Mehsud, chief of a militant faction which is part of the umbrella TTP, was the target of the remote controlled blast in Kunar province, a TTP commander in Pakistan told AFP.

A Pakistani intelligence official who confirmed the incident said Mehsud had fled to Afghanistan in 2016.

The blast comes nearly two weeks after two other key TTP leaders — Khalid Haqqani and Qari Saifullah Peshawari — were killed in a clash with security forces.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the killings, which have come as the US and the Afghan Taliban — which is separate from the TTP — appear close to a breakthrough on a deal for an American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Islamabad has helped to facilitate the gruelling talks, which have stretched over more than a year.