Key Taliban commander Latif Mehsud handed over to Pakistan: Report

Peshawar: Latif Mehsud, a top militant commander and No 2 to former Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, has been handed over to Pakistan with three others, a media report on Sunday said. [caption id=“attachment_1838243” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image.[/caption] Latif, who was under the Afghan and Nato troops custody for some time, was reportedly handed over along with his two guards and a broker, Dawn reported citing official sources. He along with his aides were arrested on Pak-Afghan border by the Afghan National Army when he was crossing the border allegedly to buy weapons. The militants were then snatched by the Nato troops from the Afghan National Army, the report said without identifying who handed over the militants to Pakistani authorities. After being held by the Afghan and Nato troops for some time, Latif was handed over to Pakistani authorities after the recent visit of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to Pakistan. The Pakistani authorities had been demanding the return of the arrested TTP commanders. The other two militants handed over to Pakistan have been identified as Jafar and Aziz. Latif was a close confidante of then Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who has died in a US drone attack aged about 34. Hakimullah was one of the most notorious leaders to emerge from Pakistan’s cauldron of militancy in the past decade. He joined a Taliban outfit led by his fellow tribesman, Baitullah Mehsud, which was later formalised as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Hakimullah sprang to prominence in 2007 with the kidnap of at least 200 Pakistani soldiers in South Waziristan. PTI