Roadside Bomb In Pakistan Kills Taliban Commander, Guards

A senior Taliban commander and three bodyguards have been killed by a roadside bomb in a remote region of northwestern Pakistan. Hafizullah Wazir, a journalist in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal district, told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal on August 22 that the bomb hit a vehicle carrying commander Ghulam Jan late on the previous day. Wazir said the incident happened in Mana, a village near Pakistan's western border with Afghanistan. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Jan was closely allied with the militant group, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. In 2007, he battled his own Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen but was forced out of the region along with his mainly Uzbek allies. Rivalries among Taliban factions are common in Waziristan, which has served as the main base for Islamist extremists over the past decade