Successor to Pakistani militant chief killed in US drone strike named

PanARMENIAN.Net - A successor to Pakistani militant leader Mullah Nazir, who was killed in a US drone strike, has been announced.

Bahawal Khan, who also goes by the name Salahuddin Ayubi, has taken command of Mullah Nazir's group, officials say, according to BBC News.

Mullah Nazir died when two missiles struck his vehicle in the tribal area of South Waziristan on Wednesday, January 2.

He headed one of four major insurgent factions in Pakistan's north-west and was a key figure in supplying fighters and support to the Afghan Taliban.

"Ayubi, whose real name is Bahawal Khan, was appointed as top commander of the group after Nazir's funeral," a Pakistani intelligence official told the AFP news agency.

Clerics and tribal elders had backed the appointment, a spokesman for the militant faction told the Express Tribune newspaper.

Bahawal Khan, said to be aged 34 and an illiterate former bus driver, is a long-time close associate of Mullah Nazir, the two men having fought together alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan before the 2001 US invasion.

According to BBC, Bilawal Khan is seen as hot-tempered, unlike his predecessor. But he is nevertheless expected to maintain the tribal consensus that Mullah Nazir had built up to keep his power base around the town of Wana largely peaceful.

In recent years there have been divisions among Taliban militant groups based in Pakistan's tribal areas.