A key commander of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was killed Thursday in a firing in the North Waziristan region.
Officials confirmed that Ashiqullah Mehsud was the main commander of the TTP and was considered the master trainer of suicide bombing after Qari Hussain Mehsud, who was the top expert and the inventor of suicide bomb blasts, Dawn online reported.
Mehsud was killed in the town of Mir Ali by unidentified gunmen.
The Mehsud group earlier this month dissociated from the TTP, saying that the militant organisation's promotion of sectarian mindset and individual ideologies created a rift which caused them to break away.