Third Afghan Taliban commander killed in Peshawar in last four months

ISLAMABAD: A senior Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Nek Muhammad Rehbar was killed in Peshawar Monday afternoon by two gunmen riding a motorbike, confirmed a police official and two Taliban leaders.
The slain Taliban commander looked after military deployments in Nangarhar, and his killing was also mentioned by the governor of the Afghan province Ziaulhaq Amarkhil in a Twitter post.
Rehbar was scheduled to return to Afghanistan as top Taliban leaders had asked their key commanders to reach their respective areas in the war-battered country.
The attack on Rehbar was claimed by Daesh.
His brother Maulvi Noor Muhammad was also killed in Peshawar in a shooting incident about 15 years ago.
A police official in Peshawar who requested anonymity since he was not authorized to speak to the media said three other people accompanying 35-year-old Rehbar were also injured in the attack.
Rehbar’s body had been shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital and investigations were launched to determine the motive behind the incident, he added.
Afghan analysts say the slain Taliban commander had fought against Daesh militants in Nangarhar which could be the main reason behind his murder in Peshawar.
Zakir Jalali, a security analyst, said Taliban officials were easy to target when they live a normal life as refugees.
Jalali told Arab News Rehbar had resisted Daesh fighters in Khogyani district of Nangarhar and the group decided to kill him since he was a “soft target” inside Pakistan.
The slain commander was the third Taliban leader who was killed in Peshawar during the last four months.
Maulvi Abdul Hadi, the Taliban governor for Laghman, was assassinated in Peshawar in February.
In January, another Taliban leader Abdul Samad Mullah Toor was killed near the city.
Several senior Taliban commanders, including the group’s chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour, were also killed in American drone attacks in the past.
Unidentified gunmen shot dead Dr. Nasiruddin Haqqani, the brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban deputy chief, near Islamabad in November 2013.
A former senior Taliban figure, Abdullah alias Maulvi Abdul Raqeeb, who was known to be in favor of peace talks with the Hamid Karzai administration, was gunned down in Peshawar in February 2014.
Meanwhile, a former Taliban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmayeen died of COVID-19 in Peshawar in January.
Mutmayeen served as Taliban spokesperson after Mullah Omar launched the movement in Kandahar in 1994.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed Mutmayeen’s death and conveyed the insurgent group’s condolences to his family.