Detention of women by forces worries TTP

PESHAWAR: Pakistani Taliban on Monday claimed that the security forces during a raid on their hideouts in Karamna area in Landikotal subdivision of Khyber Agency had detained three women and taken them along.

TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan called The News from somewhere in the tribal areas and confirmed that senior militant commander Qari Kamran was killed along with other fighters in the raid. But he alleged that the security forces also took away three women belonging to the Taliban families.

He threatened with dire consequence if the women were not set free immediately. “The government will open another front for itself if the three women are not released with dignity and honour. We are already fighting against the government and its armed forces and if the women are not released immediately, then our women would also enter the fight against the government,” the TTP spokesman said.

He said the militants had set rules of fighting and never put hands on women and children of their enemy and, therefore, they expected their opponents also to follow the principles of war.

The paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) on Sunday raided hideouts of the militants at Karamna in Tirah valley in Landikotal subdivision and reportedly killed 12 militants, including Commander Qari Kamran, affiliated with the TTP group led by the most wanted Taliban commander Tariq Afridi operating in the gun-manufacturing Darra Adamkhel area of Frontier Region Kohat.

The TTP spokesman did not confirm if the three women allegedly detained by the security forces belonged to Commander Kamran’s family. “I cannot provide you further information about the three women but it is certain that they belonged to Taliban families,” he insisted.

Source: Dawn