Despite the fracturing of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in 2014, the jihadist group is still capable of plotting, organizing, and executing deadly operations such as today’s assault in Peshawar.
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The death of Mullah Khadim, who was released from Guantanamo eight years ago, is “another great example” of jihadists who “return to the battlefield and to the fight at their own peril,” according to Admiral Kirby.
Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim was a senior Taliban leader before joining the Islamic State and being appointed the deputy emir of Khorasan province.
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Maulana Abu Bakr, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan’s emir for Bajaur, swore allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the “caliph” of the Islamic State.
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The commander of police at the airport confirmed that a guard killed the three contractors. The green-on-blue or insider attack is the first of its kind recorded so far this year.
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The strike took place in the Shawal Valley, a jihadist hub that spans both North and South Waziristan.
The governor is a former leader in the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan and his deputy is a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay and Taliban commander in Afghanistan.
Dawn calls out the Pakistani state for obscuring its purported ban of the Haqqani Network and Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
Haqqani Network and Jamaat-ud-Dawa: Banned or not?
Although numerous news outlets have reported that the Haqqani Network and Jamaat-ud-Dawa have been banned in Pakistan, no official announcement of the group’s status from the government or Ministry of Interior has been released.
Mullah Raouf Khadim, an ex-Guantanamo detainee, leads a contingent of fighters loyal to the Islamic State in Helmand, Afghanistan. Raouf and another top Taliban commander were previously forced out of their positions in the Taliban’s hierarchy. According to a leaked threat assessment, the jihadist had ties to at least two members of the so-called “Taliban Five.”
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Groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba have previously been banned in Pakistan, but continue to receive the support of the military and intelligence establishment.
So much for the Taliban wanting to have “cordial relations on basis of mutual respect with all the countries of the world ….”
Seven “militants” are reported to have been killed in a strike on a compound in an area administered by Sajna Mehsud.
Meet the shadowy figure recruiting for the Islamic State in Afghanistan
Islamic State ‘recruiting Afghan fighters’
A Pakistani Taliban splinter group released a nearly 17-minute video again pledging its allegiance to the Islamic State. The group primarily consists of low to mid-level former Pakistani Taliban officials from Khyber, Arakzai, Bajaur, Hangu, and Dir in Pakistan, and from Kunar, Logar, and Nangarhar in Afghanistan.