The banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), commander Umar Naray alias Khalifa Umar Mansoor, has reportedly been killed along with three associates in a drone strike carried out by the US military on their hideout in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.
According to Intelligence sources Naray and his associates were targeted in Acheena Bandar in Nangarhar.
Naray was the mastermind of the brutal attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar (APS) on December 16, 2014 that left at least 150 people, mostly schoolchildren, dead and scores injured. Naray also claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack on the Bacha Khan University (BKU) in Charsadda this year. Just a month after the BKU attack, media reports suggested that Naray was severely injured in a drone strike in Nangarhar. The reports added that his son Hameed died in the attack along with some other militants.
Read: Fazlullah planned school attack in Afghan border area
Naray became commander of TTP’s Geedar Group for Peshawar, Khyber Agency, Kohat and Attock after the death of group’s commander Tariq Geedar Afridi. He was a resident of the Adezai locality in Peshawar district and his real name was Aurangzeb. He came to the limelight when a video message posted on a militant website after the APS attack showed a bearded man justifying the attack, saying it was carried out in retaliation against Pakistani Army’s operations against the TTP militants.
On the other hand, the TTP denied any such reports killing Naray and associates in US drone strike. (PhotoNews/ Daily Times)
