A "main leader" of the Pakistani Taliban was killed in the explosion of his car in eastern Afghanistan.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said an announcement would soon be made regarding "the martyrdom of a senior leader" of the movement.
A source within the TTP said it was Abdul Wali, a commander who used the alias Omar Khalid Khorasani.
His death could jeopardize a fragile ceasefire reached between the TTP and the Pakistani government in June, as peace talks mediated by the Afghan Taliban progressed.
Four Pakistani army soldiers killed
The Pakistani army said on Tuesday that four soldiers were killed in a suicide attack on a military convoy in North Waziristan, where the TTP has a strong presence, on the border with Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Taliban of the TTP are a distinct group from the Afghan Taliban, but driven by the same ideology and a long common history.
According to the TTP source, who asked not to be identified, Abdul Wali and two other commanders were killed when their car was 'targeted' in Paktika province, bordering Waziristan, eastern Afghanistan .
"When we arrived at his vehicle, it was on fire, but the nature of the explosion is not yet clear," the source said, adding that Abdul Wali was returning from a meeting with the head of the TTP. , Noor Wali Mehsud.
Abdul Wali, the origin of a more militant faction of the TTP
Commander Abdul Wali has been a thorn in the side of the Pakistani authorities for more than a decade.
In 2014, he formed a separate and more militant faction of the TTP, known as Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which claimed some of the country's deadliest attacks, including a suicide bombing in Lahore on Easter Sunday 2016, which killed 75 people.
He announced two years ago a merger with the TTP, which last June declared an “indefinite ceasefire” with Islamabad after the start of peace talks brokered by the Afghan Taliban in Kabul.
These peace talks angered many Pakistanis, who remember the TTP's brutal attacks, including on schools, hotels, churches and markets.
Since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul a year ago, Islamabad has increasingly complained of TTP attacks, especially along the porous border with Afghanistan.
The new regime in Kabul has always assured that it will not allow militant groups to use Afghan soil to launch attacks against its neighbors.
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