FILE -- In this Aug. 6, 2012 file photo, Ahsanullah Ahsan, center, talks to The Associated Press in the militant group's stronghold of Shawal, in the Pakistani tribal region of South Waziristan. Pakistani authorities are questioning Ahsan, a senior militant who they say voluntarily surrendered, presenting it as a major setback for an Islamic extremist group that has carried out several major attacks. Military officials confirmed Tuesday, April 18, 2017, that Ahsanullah Ahsan, a former spokesman and senior figure in the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group, had surrendered recently. (AP Photo/Ishtiaq Mahsud, File) (The Associated Press)
ISLAMABAD – Pakistani authorities are questioning a senior militant who they say voluntarily surrendered, presenting it as a major setback for an Islamic extremist group that has carried out several attacks in recent years.
Military officials confirmed Tuesday that Ahsanullah Ahsan, a former spokesman and senior figure in the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group, had surrendered recently, without providing further details.
They say he split with the main Pakistani Taliban four years ago and joined the breakaway faction, which claimed a March 31 car bomb near a Shiite mosque that killed at least 24 people.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, said information gleaned from Ahsan led to other arrests and the location of a weapons cache.
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