Pakistani Taliban confirm arrest of key commander

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Wednesday confirmed the arrest of senior commander Adnan Rashid, who was convicted of trying to assassinate former president Pervez Musharraf.

According to reports, Rashid was arrested by the Pakistani army in Shakai area of South Waziristan this week, Xinhua reported.

Rashid was injured in an earlier strike in North Waziristan and was arrested after fleeing the ongoing airstrikes in the region.

The TTP accused a splinter Taliban group in South Waziristan of passing information to the security forces, which eventually led to the arrest of Rashid.

The Mullah Nazir group in South Waziristan is considered pro-government.

The group's leader Mullah Nazir was killed in a US drone attack last year.

Sources said that Rashid was shifted to an undisclosed location by helicopter.

The TTP has distributed pamphlets in parts of South Waziristan, saying they would take revenge for the arrest of their leader.

Adnan Rashid, a former engineer of Pakistan Air Force, was awarded the death penalty for his role in the assassination attempt on the life of Pervez Musharraf in 2003.

However, he fled along with nearly 400 people in a Taliban jailbreak in 2012.

He was behind a jail attack in August last year, in which the Taliban freed 175 prisoners including 35 senior militants.

Rashid has featured regularly in videos released by the Taliban.

Last year in a video, he was seen training Taliban fighters to attack Musharraf, before openly threatening him on camera.