Another Pakistani Taliban Leader Falls to Assassination: The Mysterious Killing of Abdul Wahab Larik

Another Pakistani Taliban Leader Falls to Assassination: The Mysterious Killing of Abdul Wahab Larik

On March 22, Abdul Wahab Larik, a central leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who was appointed the group’s head in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh, was killed by unidentified gunmen in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province (Dawn, March 25). Larik’s killing is a major blow to the TTP and sectarian militancy in the Pakistan, particularly in northern Sindh [1]. However, his killing has also renewed the debate over who is behind the continuous killings of TTP leaders in Afghanistan, a country that has been governed by the Afghan Taliban, the TTP’s ideological ally, since August 15. [2] Although the killers are unknown, Pakistan has been benefiting from the assassinations, especially in the wake of an increase in TTP attacks inside Pakistan from their sanctuaries in Afghanistan (Voice of America Urdu, January 31).

Who was Larik?

Born on May 2, 1970, Larik was popularly known by his nom de guerre, Maulvi Khush Muhamamd Sindhi, in jihadist circles of Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to Sindh’s Counter-Terrorism Department Red Book, which is a publication listing details on militants, Larik was born in Khanpur town in Sindh province’s Shikarpur district. [3] Fluent in Urdu, Sindhi, Pashto, and Arabic languages, Larik also used the aliases of Hakim Ali Jan and Khush Muhammad, according to the Red Book. A media report, however, suggests that he was also using the aliases of Gypsy Kandahar and Hakeem Saleh (Express Tribune, March 25).

After studying at local madrassas (religious schools) in Shikarpur, Larik entered the world of jihad by joining the Harakat ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI) in the early 2000s. This was an al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban-linked Pakistani jihadist group that focused on conducting attacks in Afghanistan and India-administrated Kashmir. According to the Red Book, Larik had served as Sindh province head for the HuJI and trained in Afghanistan in the 2000s.

However, after the HuJI were weakened following the arrests and deaths of several leaders, Larik joined Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) between 2007-2008 (Dawn, July 27, 2014). This proscribed militant group aims to transform Pakistan into a Sunni Muslim state primarily through violent attacks on the Shia community. [4] Larik remained close to one of LeJ’s key leaders, Usman Saifullah Kurd, after the terror group split over the leadership issue. However, after the killing of Kurd in February 2015, Larik became the head of the LeJ faction that Kurd had formed.

A senior law enforcement official stated that it is not clear whether Larik had collaborated with Abdul Hafeez Pandrani, another most wanted militant commander from Shikarpur, who was previously associated with the LeJ and carried out terror attacks in Sindh province’s northern districts. [5] Pandrani later served as the Sindh provincial chief of Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) at the time of his killing in a police shootout in February 2019 in Baluchistan province (Geo, March 1, 2019).

Larik was reportedly involved in multiple terror attacks, mainly in Sindh and Baluchistan provinces. He had masterminded the January 2015 suicide attack on a Shia mosque in the Shikarpur district that killed 53 worshippers (Ary News, March 24). He had also allegedly masterminded the August 2014 attacks on the Sumangli airbases of the Pakistani Air Force, located in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan (Express Tribune, March 25). Further, Larik was also involved in a number of sectarian killings, including the 2014 attack on Imambargah Yasrab in Karachi’s D.H.A area, and the killings of Shia clerics in the city. [6]

Mysterious Circumstances Surrounding Larik’s Killing

In mid-2020, when TTP leader Mufti Noor Wali renewed efforts to reunify breakaway factions under al-Qaeda’s supervision, he surprised observers and law enforcement agencies by announcing that a string of influential jihadist commanders had rejoined the ranks of the TTP. In August 2020, Umar Media, the TTP’s media wing, announced that Larik had also merged his faction of the LeJ with the TTP by pledging loyalty to Wali (Terrorism Monitor, January 25, 2021).

Within months of Larik’s joining the TTP, the TTP leadership began employing Larik to reinforce its operational capacity. He was later appointed as the group’s Sindh head because of his experience. [9] Pakistani Counter-terrorism Department officials believe that he had begun planning suicide attacks in Karachi before his death (Dawn, March 25). Following Larik’s killing, Karachi Police made several arrests of TTP militants lying low in the city to carry out attacks (Express Tribune, April 2).

Larik’s killing was also a major blow to the TTP and its allied sectarian groups that are trying to gain a foothold in Sindh. No one has claimed responsibility for Larik’s killing, while the TTP and Afghan Taliban have not issued any statement on his death. Larik’s death in Afghanistan, however, has reignited the debate over who is behind the killings of the TTP leaders in Afghanistan.

Operation Zarb-e-Azb, a military action launched in 2014 against militant groups operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas, had forced the TTP and other militant groups to shift their hideouts to neighboring provinces in Afghanistan. From there, they have planned and executed attacks in Pakistan across the border (Pakistan Forward, July 10, 2020). The motives behind the assassination of a key TTP leader are significant, as talks between the Pakistani government and the TTP mediated by the Afghan Taliban are underway.

Conclusion

Besides Larik, other key TTP leaders have been killed in Afghanistan:

• In January, the TTP’s former spokesperson, Mufti Muhammad Balti, known by his nom de guerre Muhamamd Khurasani, was mysteriously killed near the Pakistan-Afghan border in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province (Voice of America Urdu, January 11).
• In the same month, the TTP commander and shadow governor for the Malakand region, Mufti Burjan, was also killed in an attack (Ary News, February 5).
• Also in the same month, Mangal Bagh, the head of the banned Lashkar-e-Islam, a militant group that is active in the Khyber tribal district, was also killed in a remote-controlled bomb blast in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan (Voice of America Urdu, January 28, 2021).
• In December 2021, TTP founder Maulvi Faqir Muhammad narrowly escaped a missile attack at his house near the Pakistani border in Kunar province, Afghanistan (The Friday Times, December 18, 2021).

After the continuing attacks on TTP leaders in Afghanistan, now including Larik, the TTP in March directed its leaders and members in Afghanistan to take precautionary measures. Meanwhile, after failing to convince the Afghan Taliban to eliminate the TTP’s sanctuaries in Afghanistan, Pakistan on April 17 conducted airstrikes to target TTP hideouts in Khost and Kunar province of Afghanistan, killing dozens of people (Gandhara, April 21). The inability or failure of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to protect the TTP from attacks could force some of the latter’s leaders to form an alliance with the Taliban’s archenemy, ISKP, which would pose a series challenge both to the Afghan Taliban and Islamabad.

 

Notes

[1] In-person interview with an official of Sindh Police’ Counter-Terrorism Department in Karachi, April 27, 2022.

[2] Telephonic Interview with a TTP leader in Kunar province, April 23, 2022.

[3] Red Book 2021, compiled by the Sindh Police Counter-Terrorism Department, page 73; In-person interview with an official of the Sindh Police’ Counter-Terrorism Department in Karachi, April 27, 2022.

[4] Telephonic Interview with a TTP’s leader in Kunar province, April 23, 2022.

[5] In-person interview with an official of the Sindh Police’ Counter-Terrorism Department in Karachi, April 27, 2022.

[6] Red Book 2021, compiled by the Sindh Police Counter-Terrorism Department, Page 73.