Forces to go after Swat Taliban commanders

PESHAWAR: If the government claims about the death of a Taliban commander Ibne Aqeel in an encounter in Matta town on Thursday are true, this would send a strong message to other commanders of the Swat militants including his elder brother Ibne Amin that they too are on the hit-list.Though Ibne Aqeel may have been killed by chance because he reportedly died along with five other militants while leading an assault on Matta police station, his death should be a major loss for the Taliban. He had increasingly achieved prominence in the ranks of the militants by taking part in attacks on the security forces and the police in Matta area and harassing Swatis opposed to the Taliban. The fact that he was Ibne Amin’s younger brother gave him a head-start while rising in the Taliban hierarchy.Ibne Amin, hailing from Matta area, is one of the most powerful Taliban commanders in Swat. He became known for his ruthless ways after ordering the killing of several anti-Taliban figures, including Pir Samiullah, Bahramand Khan, Fareen Khan and others who dared raise a lashkar, or armed force, against the militants.Along with certain other Taliban commanders, Ibne Amin had opposed disarming of the militants even after the Swat peace deal between the ANP-led NWFP government and the enforcement of Nizam-e-Adl Regulation in Malakand Division and Kohistan district in Hazara. Official sources said he had remarked during one of his intercepted conversations that how could he disarm after having killed almost 200 people.Taliban sources were, however, unable to confirm that Ibne Amin indeed made this remark. Other top Taliban leaders and commanders belonging to Swat include Maulana Fazlullah, Maulana Shah Dauran, Muslim Khan, Akbar Hussain, Sirajuddin, Said Rahman alias Fateh, Ghaznavi, Muhammad Alam Binoray Mulla alias Maulana Khalil, Mufti Bashir, Maulana Yasir etc. Some of them are now operating in Buner. All of them appear to be on the government’s hit-list.Though Ibne Amin normally operates in Matta area, particularly in the Taliban strongholds of Gat-Peuchar, Namal, Bar Shawar and Kuz Shawar, there were reports that he had moved to Buner for a while to supervise the militants’ takeover of the district and plan attacks against the security forces. According to official sources, he had brought suicide bombers to Buner for use as the first wave of Taliban attacks to tackle the troops entering the district from Mardan via the Ambela Pass. They said the suicide bombers were to blow up the tanks, armoured personnel carriers and military trucks moving through the narrow Ambela Pass and inflict the maximum damage on the soldiers. However, the official sources maintained that Ibne Amin’s plans were foiled when 22 suicide bombers riding in explosives-filled vehicles and three motorcycles were spotted and killed on the first day of engagement between the security forces and the Taliban at the Ambela Pass. The sources claimed that another six would-be suicide bombers were shot dead on the second day of the military operation on the road linking Ambela Pass to Daggar, the headquarters of Buner.If true, this would constitute the biggest loss for the Taliban in a single day anywhere in Malakand Division, which includes both Swat and Buner, and Fata. After suffering such a huge loss, the Taliban militants resisting the security forces in Buner would certainly be a demoralised lot.Some estimates put the number of would-be suicide bombers in Swat at 40-50. As the 28 suicide bombers who according to official sources have been eliminated in Buner also came from Swat, this would mean that the remaining bombers are less than 20. If the estimates are correct, the Taliban commanders in Swat would be now planning to effectively use them in or outside the valley. It isn’t clear as to how many among the would-be suicide-bombers are Swatis, though there have been reports that some of them were sent to Swat by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from other areas to help the Swati Taliban.

By Rahimullah Yusufzai