PESHAWAR: Security forces in South Waziristan have arrested an Afghan national suspected of being a suicide bomber, who has reportedly made startling disclosures about Taliban recruitment and training networks operating across the border.
According to official sources, personnel of the Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (South) apprehended the suspect identified as Nimatullah, son of Musa Jan, a resident of Kandahar province, Afghanstan. The detainee, said to be a student of Johriyah Madrassa in Kandahar, was taken into custody during an intelligence-based operation in the tribal district.
Security officials said that during interrogation, the suspect gave a detailed confession exposing the recruitment of minors by the Afghan Taliban and a militant faction known as Fitana al-Khawarij. He claimed that young boys were indoctrinated through religious lessons and convinced to carry out suicide missions targeting Pakistani security personnel.
Nimatullah revealed that around 40 recruits gathered in Khost, from where they infiltrated Pakistan through Chiwar and moved toward Barwand in South Waziristan’s Lali Zai area — an alleged Taliban stronghold. He identified a local commander, Umar Hamas, as the man responsible for overseeing suicide attack training.
The suspect stated that the training program spanned three months, though he personally underwent one week of instruction, which included lessons on preparing and executing vehicle-borne suicide attacks.
In his statement, Nimatullah recounted that during his stay, religious instructors at the madrassa repeatedly told him that attacking Pakistani forces was “permissible.” However, after hearing the call to prayer from nearby military camps, he realized the soldiers were Muslims, and that such attacks were religiously unjustifiable.
The revelations shed further light on the methods employed by Afghan-based militant groups to radicalize and exploit young recruits, using religious manipulation to fuel terrorism inside Pakistan.
