TTP’s claims Peshawar mosque assault. A glance into Pakistani Taliban’s profile | World News
The Pakistani Taliban, also called Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed duty for Monday’s suicide bombing at a mosque inside a police compound within the northwestern metropolis of Peshawar, in one of many deadliest assaults on safety forces in latest months.
The bombing is more likely to pressure relations additional between Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, who’re sheltering the TTP management and fighters.
A take a look at the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has waged an insurgency within the nation for 15 years:
Why is the TTP combating an insurgency?
Angered by Pakistan’s cooperation with Washington within the warfare on terrorism, the TTP was formally arrange by Pakistani militants in 2007 when totally different outlawed teams agreed to work collectively in opposition to Pakistan and assist the Afghan Taliban, who have been combating U.S. and NATO forces.
The TTP seeks stricter enforcement of Islamic legal guidelines, the discharge of its members in authorities custody, and a discount in Pakistani army presence in elements of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province bordering Afghanistan that it has lengthy used as a base.
The TTP has stepped up assaults on Pakistani troopers and police since November, when it unilaterally ended a cease-fire with the federal government after the failure of months of talks, hosted by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers in Kabul.
Earlier than Monday’s bombing, the TTP had repeatedly warned police not to participate in operations in opposition to its fighters in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.
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What’s the relationship between the TTP and the Afghan Taliban?
The TTP is separate from however an in depth ally of the Afghan Taliban, and that group’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 emboldened the TTP, which shares the group’s ideology.
TTP fighters used to cover in Pakistan’s tribal northwest and in addition had sanctuary in Afghanistan, however they largely lived a fugitive existence.
Nonetheless, the Afghan Taliban began brazenly sheltering the TTP after they got here to energy. The Afghan Taliban additionally launched TTP leaders and fighters who had been arrested by earlier administrations in Kabul.
The Taliban have repeatedly mentioned they won’t enable anybody, together with the TTP, to make use of Afghan soil for assaults in opposition to any nation, together with Pakistan. However Pakistani officers say there’s a disconnect between the phrases and actions of the Afghan Taliban, who might cease the TTP from launching assaults contained in the nation however are failing to take action.
The Pakistani Taliban have expressed their allegiance to the pinnacle of the Afghan Taliban, mentioned Abdullah Khan, a senior defence analyst and managing director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Battle and Safety Research.
He added, nevertheless, that they’ve their very own agenda and technique.
TTP’s operations have largely been geared toward focusing on Pakistani forces, just like the Afghan Taliban’s agenda of ousting international forces from the nation.
Khan fears that Pakistan will see a surge in militant violence within the coming weeks and months.
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Has violence elevated lately?
Pakistan has seen innumerable militant assaults previously twenty years, however there was an uptick since November, when the TTP ended a cease-fire with the federal government that had lasted for months.
The Pakistani Taliban often perform shootings or bombings, particularly within the rugged and distant northwestern Pakistan, a former TTP stronghold.
Within the first week of January, militants on a bike shot and killed two policemen in Lakki Marwat, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Monday’s mosque bombing on the police compound in Peshawar was geared toward safety officers, who have been among the many dozens of victims.
The violence has raised fears amongst residents of a doable army operation within the former tribal areas of North and South Waziristan, now two districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Hours after Monday’s mosque bombing, Inside Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan instructed the unbiased Geo information channel that Afghan Taliban rulers should honour their dedication to the worldwide group to not enable anybody to make use of their soil for assaults in opposition to one other nation.
“They need to honour their guarantees,” he mentioned.
