Six Taliban commanders surrender to security forces in Kurram Agency

The terrorists who laid down arms in front of security forces in Lower Kurram Agency were hardened commanders of the militant organization, according to security sources.

The terrorists were affiliated with TTP-Shahryar Group.

The surrendering terrorists announced to submit themselves to the writ of the state.

Meanwhile, Baloch separatists have also been surrendering to security forces after the launch of military offensive against them.

A group of 59 militants including two key commanders last year in June, along with senior politicians and government officials from the province, to announce they would end militant activities and become a “useful part” of society.

All were given amnesty by the government.

“These people were in fact misled by the anti-state elements who are being funded by foreign spy agencies,” said Sanaullah Zehri, senior minister in Baluchistan.

The militants who surrendered were from groups such as Baluch Republican Army (BRA), Baluch National Movement (BNM), and Lashkare-e-Baluchistan (Army of Baluchistan).

“We were trapped by our leaders who said they are fighting for the rights of Baluchs, but later we realised that they were enjoying their lives abroad and had pushed us and our families to a war here,” Obaidullah alias Babrak, a Lashkar-e-Baluchistan commander, told reporters.

The army launched the operation in mid-2014 in a bid to wipe out militant bases in the area and end the near decade-long Islamist insurgency that has cost Pakistan thousands of lives.

The operation was intensified after the Taliban massacred more than 150 people, the majority of them children, at a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar in December 2014.