The terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)* has claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing that targeted Pakistani security personnel in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, on Wednesday morning.
The suicide bombing in Quetta comes a day after the TTP announced an end to the ceasefire with the Pakistani government and ordered its fighters to stage attacks across the country, justifying the move with claims that the Pakistani forces have continued to carry out operations against “mujahideen” during the ceasefire period.
A statement released by the TTP claims the attack was carried out to avenge the killed of Omar Khalid Khorasani, who the militant group said was killed “during the ceasefire."
Khorasani, a key TTP commander, allegedly died in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack in Pakistan's Paktia province this August.
The ceasefire between the TTP, whose stated aim to is establish Sharia law (Islamic law) in Pakistan, had been in place since June this year. The Afghan Taliban**, which came to power in Afghanistan last August, has been mediating the talks between the Pakistani government and the TTP.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has claimed in several of its reports that the leadership of the TTP is based in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. However, the Taliban has rejected the charge that it is supporting foreign terrorist groups, as it had promised at the time of signing of the peace deal with Washington in February 2020.
Meanwhile, the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has urged the TTP to halt terrorist attacks and “return to the negotiating table”, as per a statement from Muhammad Ali Saif, the Special Assistant to the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The TTP’s announcement calling for nationwide attacks came on the same day Lieutenant General Asim Munir took charge as the new Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) of Pakistan.
Pakistan Junior Foreign Minister Visits Kabul
Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s Minister of State (MoS) for foreign affairs, paid a day-long visit to Kabul on Tuesday, amid recent tensions between the two countries over shooting incidents at the disputed border, known as the Durand Line.
Both the Taliban and the TTP have refused to accept the Durand Line as the official border, although the Pakistani authorities have been fencing it in order to reiterate Islamabad’s territorial claims.
A statement by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on Khar’s visit said that the she discussed matters related to “regional security” and “combatting terrorism” with the interim Afghan government officials during the visit.
Khar said that these issues would “impact” Taliban’s engagement with the international community, as she also reiterated Islamabad’s previous appeals to the Biden administration to unfreeze billions of dollars of Afghanistan’s federal funds at US-based financial institutions.
The US has said that the unfreezing of funds is contingent upon the Taliban fulfilling its international obligations, including forming an “inclusive government” and ending support to foreign terrorist groups.
Moscow and Beijing, the other key players in the region, have also urged Washington to unfreeze Afghanistan’s federal funds in view of the humanitarian crisis in the central Asian nation.
*banned in Russia
**under UN sanctions over terrorist activities