Pakistan on Monday was interrogating six senior Taliban commanders who surrendered on Sunday in the restive north-western tribal region, security officials said.
The commanders laid down arms in the Shaheedanu Dand area of Kurram, one of seven tribal regions, where Pakistan’s military is battling home-grown militants.
“Those who surrendered included Ejaz Mehsud and Khair Muhammad Mehsud, the brother and uncle, respectively, of slain Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud,’’ a security official said.
They were transferred to a military facility for interrogation in Dera Ismail Khan, a garrison town near the tribal district of South Waziristan.
“Their fate will be decided after an investigation.
“They will either be sent to a rehabilitation centre or a detention centre,’’ he said.
Another official who confirmed the surrender said the commanders had separately entered Pakistan from Afghanistan, which they fled after the army, launched a massive offensive in June 2014.
Hakimullah was chief of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella organisation of more than a dozen outfits, and was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2013.
According to Pakistan’s army, he was succeeded by Mullah Fazlullah, who is allegedly hiding in Afghanistan with his supporters.
The officials said over 60,000 people, including more than 5,000 security personnel, have been killed during the Taliban insurgency in Pakistan in more than a decade of violence.