Pakistan’s military said on Thursday that Qari Amjad, also known as Mufti Muzahim, a senior leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was killed during a security operation in Bajaur district near the Afghan border.

In a statement, the Pakistani army said the operation took place overnight between 29 and 30 October, after security forces detected movements by a TTP group attempting to infiltrate across the Pakistan–Afghanistan frontier.

According to the military, Amjad had been operating from inside Afghanistan and was involved in multiple terrorist attacks within Pakistan. He was previously the TTP’s deputy leader and a close aide to the group’s chief, Noor Wali Mehsud. Amjad also headed the group’s leadership council and was designated a global terrorist by the United States in November 2022.

The TTP has not yet confirmed his death.

Amjad, a native of Dera district in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had appeared in a video on 17 October claiming to be present in Bajaur. The Pakistani government had placed a bounty of five million rupees on his capture.

The army reiterated its long-standing position that the TTP leadership operates from Afghan territory and directs cross-border attacks into Pakistan. It urged the Taliban administration in Kabul to take “decisive steps” to ensure Afghan soil is not used for militant operations.

According to the US State Department, Amjad oversaw militant activities and coordinated violent operations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.