NOWSHERA: A key associate of the Swat Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah, and an important commander of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan Swat, was arrested from the Akora Khattak area of Nowhsera on Thursday, official sources said.

According to intelligence sources, the security forces had arrived from Swat and had carried out a search operation in Marhati area in the remits of Akora Khattak Police station and arrested the militant commander Ihsanullah Ihsan.

Ihsanullah Ihsan, the sources said, belonged to Shangla district of Swat and in addition to being a close aide of Fazlullah, was also his personal driver.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Akora Khattak, expressing ignorance about the incident, said the operation might have been carried out by some other “sensitive agencies”.

The sources said that army personnel from Swat had arrived and carried out the operation in Nowshera while even the local police was not informed about it.

The arrested commander of the Swat Taliban, Ihsanullah Ihsan, bears no relation to and should not be confused with Ahsanullah Ahsan, spokesman for the TTP known to be based in the tribal strongholds of South Waziristan.