Lashkar-e-Jhagvi and Tahreek-e-Taliban commander ‘Waleed Akber’ who was mastermind of Ashura blast and killer of hundreds of Shiite Muslims in Pakistan has been killed in Dera Ismail Khan police encounter.
TTP -LeJ terrorist was killed and one of his accomplices injured on Wednesday during a police encounter in the Prova tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan.
Waleed Akbar, key commander of notorious banned outfit TTP-LeJ was killed in the encounter that ensued when terrorists attacked District Police Officer (DPO) Sadiq Baloch in the Chodwan Area of Prova tehsil following which police repulsed the attack.
District Police Officer DI Khan said the police was conducting a search operation when the terrorists led by Akbar Waleed ambushed their convoy in the Hari Mor area of Porva tehsil. Subsequently, Akbar Waleed was killed in the encounter.
He was involved in the planning of suicide attacks on funeral processions and law enforcement agencies’ personnel. He was also involved in the assassinations of Shia leaders and police personnel during the Ashura bombing near a Muharram procession in Dera Ismail Khan on November 25, 2012.
The D I Khan police had arrested Akbar along with four others involved in the Ashura bombing in Dera Ismail Khan during raids on January 2, 2013.
However, in July 2013, Akbar managed to flee during the Dera Ismail Khan jail break incident when dozens of heavily-armed Taliban insurgents had freed nearly 175 inmates, including 35 ‘high-profile terrorists’, during a brazen overnight attack on the central jail in 2013.
Other key takfiri commanders who had escaped included Abdul Hakeem, Haji Riaz (the TTP president for Dera Ismail Khan), Mansoor and Ahmed Bajauri, and a senior TTP ringleader from Pishta Kharra area in Peshawar.
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