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The TTP blamed Pakistani intelligence brokers for the killing, with out providing proof or elaborating.
The three different slain militants included Khurasani’s driver and two of his shut aides. Nobody else was within the automobile on the time of the assault, in keeping with Pakistani officers and the TTP members who spoke to The Related Press. They spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of the assault has not but been publicly introduced.
An announcement from the TTP was anticipated later Monday.
The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group however allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized energy in Afghanistan a 12 months in the past because the U.S. and NATO troops have been within the last phases of their pullout.
The TTP has waged an insurgency in Pakistan over the previous 14 years, preventing for stricter enforcement of Islamic legal guidelines within the nation, the discharge of their members who’re in authorities custody and a discount of Pakistani navy presence within the nation’s former tribal areas.
Khurasani, a senior TTP chief, break up in 2014 to kind his personal militant group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which later joined the Pakistani Taliban. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar was designated as a terrorist group by america in 2016. Rewards for Justice, the U.S. State Division’s counter-terrorism rewards program, supplied as much as $3 million for info on Khurasani.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar is accused of launching a number of assaults towards Pakistani forces and spiritual minorities. The group additionally claimed duty for killing two Pakistani staff of the U.S. Consulate within the northwestern metropolis of Peshawar in March 2016.
That very same 12 months, it claimed duty for a suicide assault at a park in Pakistan’s jap metropolis of Lahore that killed greater than 70 individuals.
The TTP — an umbrella group of a number of militant factions — has additionally been behind quite a few assaults on Pakistani troops and civilians during the last 15 years.
Khurasani was a part of the TTP’s negotiators who have been holding talks with Pakistani officers since Could. Three different militants killed within the bombing have been recognized by safety officers and TTP members as Hassan Ali, Mufti Hassan and Hafiz Daulat. It was not instantly recognized the place have been they buried.
It was not instantly clear if and the way Khurasani’s killing would have an effect on about three monthslong cease-fire between TTP and Pakistan’s authorities. The truce was initially introduced in Could and was later prolonged for an indefinite interval after talks between the Pakistani authorities and the TTP hosted by the Afghan Taliban in Kabul.
The cease-fire has largely been holding, elevating prospects for progress within the talks between the 2 sides.
TTP has lengthy fought for stricter enforcement of Islamic legal guidelines in Pakistan, launch of their members from authorities custody, and a discount of navy presence in Pakistan’s former northwestern tribal areas.
Islamabad has demanded that the brand new Taliban rulers subsequent door stop militant teams from utilizing Afghan territory for assaults inside Pakistan. Earlier than the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, Islamabad and Kabul typically traded blame and accused one another of sheltering militants.
Pakistan now says it has completed the development of greater than 93% of a fence alongside the border with Afghanistan to stop cross-border militant assaults.
Related Press author Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.
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