Last Update: December 29, 2022, 15:09 IST
The TTP has increased attacks on security forces since November, when it ended a month-long ceasefire with the Pakistan government. (Representational photo: Reuters)
In 2014, the Pakistani Taliban stormed the Army Public School (APS) in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least 150 people, including 131 students.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorist group has 7,000 to 10,000 fighters in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.
Sanaullah also revealed that the rebels were accompanied by 25,000 members of their families.
His comments to Dawn News TV came as the TTP has stepped up attacks across the country, including the first suicide attack in the capital Islamabad since 2014.
The TTP has increased attacks on security forces since November, when it ended a month-long ceasefire with the Pakistan government.
Sanaullah pointed out that some local people were also involved in crimes such as extortion and blackmail and alleged that the provincial government had failed to stop them, Dawn newspaper reported.
The interior minister blamed the Pakistan Tehreek-led provincial government of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying, “The biggest reason for this is the failure of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the Counter Terrorism Department (…), it is their job to stop it.” -e-Insaf: Party.
He said that Pakistan has its own army to guard the borders, adding that if the provincial government cannot handle the situation, it can request the federal government.
“Army will eliminate all such elements of terrorism.” Commenting on the prevailing view that the TTP took the pretext of talks and ceasefire to regroup, Sanaullah said the group never disintegrated and moved on from the success of the Afghan Taliban.
Agreeing to the idea of an all-party conference or a national security meeting on the emerging threat of terrorism, the minister said such a truce should happen, but stressed that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government should first sit down and talk to the federal government. Need to. ,
“The KP government needs to inform the federal government about law and order in the province – the counter-terrorism department is in crisis and police morale is low – and ask what the Center can do to help and what it will do to assist them. is ready.
Sanaullah claimed, “We held two meetings in Islamabad, where the chief minister was invited, but the chief minister did not come, as he was planning to march to the capital (for the long march) and party chief Imran Khan had given permission.” Wasn’t given.”
A policeman was killed along with two suspected terrorists and at least six others, including four policemen, were injured in a bomb blast in an affluent residential area on Friday. The bombing was claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)—a banned terrorist group that has been reactivated after the Afghan Taliban captured Kabul.
The TTP, which is considered close to al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on an army headquarters in 2009, attacks on military bases and the 2008 Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad.
In 2014, the Pakistani Taliban stormed the Army Public School (APS) in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least 150 people, including 131 students.
Friday’s attack was the first suicide bombing in Islamabad since the 2014 courthouse bombing that killed 10 people.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)