Taleban commander shot dead

Gunmen have killed a Pakistan Taleban commander linked to an attack on a volleyball tournament in north-west Pakistan in 2010 that killed almost 100 people.

Maulana Ashraf Marwat was shot dead in Shaktoi, an area of South Waziristan near the Afghan border on Tuesday, mourners at his funeral said.

The identity of the gunmen was unclear.

Police blamed Marwat for helping organise the deadly 2010 attack on the Shah Hasankhel village in the north-western Lakki Marwat district, in which a lorry packed with explosives was detonated at a volleyball tournament.

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Marwat was linked to the Pakistani Taleban, said a leader of a local pro-government militia.

The police also say Marwat killed another Taleban commander, Maulana Iftikhar Marwat, reportedly because of his association with the Afghan Taleban.

The dispute between the two men highlighted tensions within the insurgency.

Iftikhar Marwat had apparently urged militants from his native Lakki Marwat district to focus their fight on foreign forces in Afghanistan rather than against the Pakistani security forces.

That angered Ashraf Maulana, who wanted to continue attacks in Pakistan.

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