This photograph taken in June 2012 shows Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani, the head of the supreme shoura, and appointed as temporary head of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the Waziristan tribal area near the Afghan border. — AFP

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan — A top commander of the Pakistani Taliban was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Monday in the militant stronghold of North Waziristan, security sources and family members in the tribal region told Reuters.



Asmatullah Shaheen was on the Pakistan army’s list of twenty most wanted Taliban commanders, and had had a $120,000 bounty placed on his head since 2009.



He was appointed as interim chief of the Pakistan Taliban following the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud, the previous leader, in a US drone strike on November 1.



Shaheen’s killers ambushed his car as it passed through Dargah Mandi, a village 5 km (3 miles) northwest of Miranshah, the regional capital of North Waziristan.



“Unidentified gunmen in another car shot and killed Shaheen as well as the driver and guards,” a family member told Reuters. Security sources also confirmed the deaths.



The Pakistani Taliban insurgency is fighting to topple Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s democratically elected government and impose Shariah law in the nuclear-armed nation.



Attacks have been on the rise since Sharif came to power in May, promising a negotiated end to violence. His stance unnerved global powers already worried that withdrawal of most US-led troops from Afghanistan in 2014 would leave a security vacuum.



Peace talks between the Pakistani government and Taliban insurgents began on February 6 but broke down last week after insurgents said they executed 23 men from a government paramilitary force in revenge for the killing of their fighters by army forces.



Shaheen was considered one of the proponents of peace talks, according to sources close to the Taliban. The failure to reach a negotiated settlement has raised the specter of a major military offensive in North Waziristan, a region bordering Afghanistan where al Qaeda-linked militants are based.



On Sunday, Pakistani fighter jets attacked suspected militant hideouts in tribal areas on the Afghan border. The army said they killed at least 38 insurgents in the third air strike in recent days.



Bomb kills two outside Iranian consulate in Peshawar



A suspected suicide bomb attack outside the Iranian consulate in the Pakistani city of Peshawar Monday killed two paramilitary soldiers and wounded ten others, officials said.



The bombing took place in the upmarket University Town area of the northwestern city, where many non-government organizations are also based.



“We have two bodies of paramilitary soldiers and ten wounded have been admitted to hospital,” said Farhad Khan, a spokesman for Khyber Teaching Hospital where the casualties were taken.



No group has yet claimed responsibility. — Agencies