Pakistani forces kill Taliban chief allegedly involved in school massacre

Pakistani security forces have killed a Taliban commander who allegedly facilitated the recent school massacre that left 150 people dead. 

Pakistani officials said on Friday that the commander, named only as Saddam, was killed on Thursday night during a gunfight with security forces in the Khyber tribal area, which borders the northwestern city of Peshawar where last week's school massacre took place.

"Commander Saddam was a dreaded terrorist, who was killed in an exchange of fire with the security forces in Jamrud town of Khyber tribal region," top local administration official Shahab Ali Shah said. "Six of his accomplices were injured and arrested."

Shah added that Saddam is believed to have facilitated the school attack, but that the extent or capacity of his alleged involvement was not yet known.

"Authorities are currently interrogating the injured terrorists," Shah said, while describing Saddam as an important commander in the Pakistani Taliban who had masterminded several bomb attacks.

“Saddam and his accomplices have been involved in several recent attacks on security forces that had resulted in heavy casualties,” Shah said.

The Pakistani Taliban and other fighters have taken refuge in Khyber following a major army offensive launched in June in North Waziristan, another restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan that has been a hub for al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters since the early 2000s.

Elsewhere, officials said that a United States drone strike on a Taliban compound in North Waziristan killed at least four fighters on Friday while another one in the same area killed t least five fighters on 20 December.

The region is largely off-limits to journalists, making it difficult to independently verify such reports.

Pakistani’s military claims it has killed more than 1,700 fighters so far in its heavy offensive in the tribal zone, with 126 soldiers having lost their lives. The Asian country has ramped up its anti-terror campaign in the wake of the December 16 massacre at an army-run school in Peshawar that saw 134 children gunned down by heavily-armed Taliban fighters.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced the establishment of military courts for terror-related cases in order to accelerate trials, and has reinstated the death penalty for terrorism-related cases. Officials said that Pakistan plans to execute around 500 fighters in the coming weeks.