TTP 'number two sacked': spokesman

PESHAWAR: The number two commander in Pakistan's Taliban movement has been sacked as deputy chief but will remain within the organisation, a spokesman said Monday.

Maulvi Faqir Mohammad is the Taliban's commander in Bajaur, one of P seven districts in the tribal belt on the Afghan border

He was sacked on Sunday at a meeting presided over by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud at a secret location in the northwest region, spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone.

"A shura (council) meeting was held on Sunday and it decided to remove Maulvi Faqir Mohammad from the position of deputy chief of TTP," he said, adding that Mohammad would continue to serve the group as an ordinary member.

Ehsan gave no reason for the removal. Neither was a successor announced.

A source close to the Taliban told AFP on condition of anonymity that the Bajaur commander fell out of favour with Mehsud over his alleged support for peace talks with the government.

Mohammad also had sympathies with Mehsud's biggest rival within the TTP, Wali-ur Rehman, the source added.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012