Two militant groups infighting led to suicide bombing at Darra Adamkhel mosque

PESHAWAR - An ongoing blood feud between two militant groups was the apparent reason behind the suicide bombing at a mosque in Darra Adamkhel, in which around 70 people offering Friday prayers were killed.

The attack was organised by the Tariq Afridi group, which is part of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and loyal to Hakimullah Mahsud, The News reported.

Through its spokesman, who calls himself Mohammad, the group claimed responsibility for the mosque bombing, and said that it was in retaliation against the murder of four of their men killed by the Momin Afridi faction.

“The spokesman reminded that the Akhorwal villagers first raised a lashkar to fight the Taliban and then sought peace by making a deal with us. We attacked them because they broke the deal, killed four of our men and refused our demand to hand us the killers,” said Zafar Khan, one of the journalists who received spokesman Mohammad’s phone call in Darra Adamkhel on Friday.

While some of the fighters of the Momin Afridi group, including commander Shaukat from Zarghunkhel Afridi sub-tribe were killed in the attack in Akhorwal area, however, majority of those slain were commoners.

Momin Afridi, who belongs to the Sheraki branch of Afridis, has the reputation of being a pro-government commander. On the other hand, Tariq Afridi, who is from the Zarghunkhel Afridi sub-tribe, is fiercely anti-government and one of the top TTP commanders.

According to tribal sources, the Momin Afridi group had some presence in the Akhorwal area. This was stated to be the reason behind the rival Tariq Afridi group’s decision to send a suicide bomber to the mosque during the Friday prayers to cause maximum damage.

The suicide bombing on Friday was the second time that Darra Adamkhel suffered death and destructions at such a massive scale.

About two years ago, 42 tribal elders were killed in a suicide attack against a jirga convened in the town to discuss measures to maintain peace in the semi-tribal Darra Adamkhel area. (ANI)