Taliban promotes ‘Special Group’ training in northwestern Pakistan
The video of fighters purportedly training and firing RPGs in the open in Swabi indicates that the Taliban have returned.
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India accuses Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed of attacking army base in Kashmir
Jihadists killed 17 Indian troops and wounded dozens more in a suicide assault on a military base in Jammu and Kashmir. Jaish-e-Mohammed is thought to have carried out a similar attack on an Indian air base in January.
TTP commander for North Waziristan touts operations in Pakistan
The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan counters the Pakistani military’s claims that Operation Zarb-e-Azb has succeeded in defeating jihadists of all stripes in North Waziristan.
Report: Pakistani officials deny al Qaeda’s hostage exchange story
Anonymous Pakistani officials deny al Qaeda’s claim that General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani’s son was kidnapped and exchanged for Ayman al Zawahiri’s two daughters, a third woman and their children. But their denial raises a number of additional questions and only adds to the mystery.
Did al Qaeda exchange former Pakistani army chief’s son for Zawahiri’s daughters?
Al Qaeda claims that two of Ayman al Zawahiri’s daughters and a third woman were exchanged for the son of Ashfaq Pervez Kayani in either late July or early August. The Long War Journal cannot independently verify the claim, but it is known that al Qaeda had been trying to exchange at least one kidnapped son of Pakistan’s elite for the women. Al Qaeda announced that the women and their children were released in early August.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Islamic State claim suicide attack at Pakistani hospital
While the competing claims cannot be verified, both groups are capable of executing the mass-casualty suicide attack in Quetta.
US kills Pakistani Taliban commander behind attacks on schools
The US killed Khalifa Umar Mansour, the commander of the Tariq Gidar Group who was responsible for attacks on Pakistani schools, in an airstrike in Afghanistan. The US listed his Taliban faction as a terrorist organization less than two months ago.
Pakistan: Friend or Foe in the Fight Against Terrorism?
Bill Roggio testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, as well as the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. The hearing is titled, “Pakistan: Friend or Foe in the Fight Against Terrorism?”
Pakistan condemns killing of Kashmiri terrorist military leader
Pakistan called the killing of Burhan Wani by Indian troops “deplorable and condemnable,” despite the fact that he was a known terrorist recruiter and military commander. This condemnation highlights Pakistan’s support for terrorist groups throughout the region.
‘Pakistan did not take substantial action against the Afghan Taliban’ or Haqqani Network: State Department
The US government continues to provide nearly $800 million in financial aid despite Pakistan’s historical and continuing support for jihadist groups that are actively fighting US troops in Afghanistan and plotting terrorist attacks across the globe.
US lists 2 Pakistani jihadist groups as global terror organizations
Jamaat ul Dawa al Quran, which operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan, “has long-standing ties” with al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to the State Department. The Tariq Gidar Group, which is “linked” to the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, has been behind some of the deadliest attacks inside Pakistan.
Pakistani Taliban faction mourns death of Mullah Mansour
“With regret the Muslim world has lost a great mentor,” Jamaat-ul-Ahrar spokesman Ihsannullah Ihsan said, referring to Mansour. He urged “the Mujahideen and all Muslims” not to grieve too long, and to “focus on fighting” their enemies.
State Department refuses to admit that Mullah Mansour was killed inside Pakistan
“How could you fire something out of the sky and blow something up and kill people and not know what country it’s in? ,” a reporter responded incredulously to a State Department spokesman’s claim that the government didn’t know whether the US killed Taliban emir Mullah Mansour in Afghanistan or Pakistan.
Pakistan protests US airstrike on Mansour as ‘a violation of sovereignty’
Pakistan has officially protested some US drone strikes in the past, typically when a so-called “good Taliban” leader is targeted. However Pakistan has occasional protested strikes that have targeted al Qaeda and the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.
US targeted Taliban emir Mullah Mansour in unprecedented Pakistan drone strike
Mullah Mansour was targeted in an airstrike in Baluchistan province. If Mansour is confirmed killed, one of his likely successors is Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani Network who is closely tied to al Qaeda.
US, Afghan forces rescue son of former Pakistani prime minister from ‘al Qaeda cell’
The US military said it carried out a “counterterror mission” to rescue Ali Haider Gilani. Afghan officials said that al Qaeda was holding him hostage. Al Qaeda operated a training camp in Paktika as recently as the summer of 2015. Paktika is also a stronghold for the al Qaeda-allied Haqqani Network.
Pakistani Taliban faction kills 7 policemen guarding polio vaccination team
“This attack is part of ongoing attacks against security forces and police,” the spokesman for Jamaat-ul-Ahrar said. “We believe the fighting will continue until we achieve the goal of implementing the Islamic system in Pakistan.”
Pakistan claims senior TTP commander captured in North Waziristan
The Pakistani military seems eager to declare victory and put an end to Zarb-e-Azb, even though the jihadists networks based there have not been dismantled.
‘The target was Christians,’ Pakistani Taliban says of Lahore Easter attack
“The target was Christians,” the official spokesman of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan Jamaat-ul-Ahrar said after a suicide bomber killed more than 70 people, mostly women and children, at a park in Lahore.
Osama Bin Laden’s Files: Al Qaeda provided feedback on Pakistani Taliban’s charter
Al Qaeda leaders Abu Yahya al Libi and Atiyah Abd al Rahman provided detailed feedback on the Movement of the Taliban’s proposed charter.
Osama Bin Laden’s Files: Al Qaeda in Pakistan engaged journalists, directed media operations from South Waziristan
A letter to Atiyah by “Ahmad,” who likely is Ustad Ahmad Farooq, shows how al Qaeda attempts to manipulate the media. Also, al Qaeda in Pakistan based its media operations from Wana, South Waziristan, which is home to a Taliban group supported by the Pakistani state.
Osama Bin Laden’s Files: Al Qaeda relocated operatives out of northern Pakistan
Just months prior to his death, Osama bin Laden ordered his right hand man to relocate the al Qaeda “brothers” out of North and South Waziristan. The al Qaeda men were to be moved to Afghanistan and other areas in Pakistan.
Pakistan is ‘very cooperative and very engaged in the fight against terrorism,’ Secretary Kerry tells Congress
“The government itself, the military has been very cooperative and very engaged in the fight against terrorism,” Secretary of State John Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, despite Pakistan’s continuing support of the Taliban and other jihadist groups.
US drones target jihadist ‘hideouts’ in Pakistan’s tribal areas
The attack took place in the tribal agency of Kurram, where the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network is known to have moved its base of operations.
US strikes Pakistani Taliban faction in eastern Afghanistan
The US is reported to have killed 18 Taliban fighters from Sajna Mehsud’s Taliban faction in an airstrike in an area in Paktika province known to serve as a safe haven for several terrorist groups, including al Qaeda.
Suicide team sent by Pakistani Taliban faction assaults university
The attack was claimed by Khalifa Umar Mansour, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan’s leader for Peshawar and Darra Adam Khel, who is also responsible for attacking a military school in Peshawar in 2014 and an airbase near the same city in 2015.
Pakistan again puts Jaish-e-Mohammed leader under ‘protective custody’
Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammed emir, has been placed under house arrest and in protective custody at least three other times in the past.
Pakistani Taliban suicide bomber detonates at polio vaccination center
The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan said that a “Special Unit” from the Mujahideen Special Group “successfully targeted” and killed Pakistani security forces guarding the vaccination center. The Taliban has targeted the anti-polio drive in the past, accusing it of being a vehicle of Western intelligence services.
Islamic State ‘province’ claims attack on Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad
The Islamic State’s Wilayat Khorasan says that three jihadists attacked the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, Afghanistan earlier today. At least two of them detonated suicide belts.
Pakistani Taliban says Islamic State leader Baghdadi ‘is not a Islamic Khalifa’
The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan again rejected the Islamic State and said its emir, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, is illegitimate and his followers kill “innocent mujahideen.”