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A top Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander reportedly escaped a drone strike on a compound in eastern Afghanistan.
The strike on Maulvi Faqir Mohammad came a week after the outfit unilaterally announced to end the month-long ceasefire, accusing the Imran Khan government of breaching peace talks. A drone strike hit a guesthouse on the compound in Kunar, targeting a senior TTP member. However, the missile failed to explode, Pakistani newspaper Daily Pakistan reported citing a Paris based agency. According to the report, the senior TTP leader escaped unhurt. The report added that the TTP commander was about three meters away from the compound when the drone fired a missile. Earlier this year, the TTP commander was released by the Taliban after US military drawdown from Afghanistan. Prior to this, he reportedly spent eight years in Bagram prison. Pakistan's attempts to negotiate with extremist groups will have serious security repercussions as such actions tend to be viewed as a sign of weakness, according to a think tank. "Firstly, the removal of the name of the TLP... as a proscribed organisation has set a dangerous precedent in the country, as it came days after its violent protest march to Islamabad. This bizarre move will only strengthen extremists and anti-state elements in the country," Sehar Kamran, head of the Center for Pakistan and Gulf Studies think tank, told Sputnik. Kamran further argued that it is highly unlikely that the decriminalisation of such extremist groups will facilitate their integration into the political life of the country and their consequent de-radicalization. (ANI)
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