Pakistan security forces on radar of new terror group

Noura Bendari

Pakistan witnessed within two days two suicide attacks that targeted security forces.

The first attack took place on July 18, when an explosive device went off in a troop carrier in the north-western part of the country.

The troop carrier was on the way to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the border with Afghanistan.

The attack left two people dead and eight security personnel injured.

The second attack took place two days later, when gunmen opened fire on a police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

They injured four policemen, according to Pakistani media.

New movement

The new ‘Pakistani Jihad Movement’ or what is widely known as ‘Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan’ claimed responsibility for the first attack.

It came less than a week after the same movement claimed responsibility for another attack that took place on July 13.

This attack targeted a Pakistani army base in the southern province of Balochistan, where gunmen fired rockets and grenades at the base, killing 12 soldiers, according to a Pakistani military official.

This terrorist movement debuted on February 24 under the name ‘Electronic Jihad Movement in Pakistan’.

Mullah Mohammad Qasim was appointed as the spokesman of the movement after the first attack.

The attack took place in Chaman District in Balochistan province in south-western Pakistan.

The sudden appearance of this movement caused some people to speculate that it is affiliated with the Taliban branch in Pakistan.

However, the movement denied any links with the Taliban.

One goal

The Pakistani army blamed the Pakistani Taliban for the attacks of Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, especially given the fact that these attacks took place in areas that were formerly strongholds of the Taliban.

This is especially true to Peshawar. It also applied to the mineral-rich Balochistan region which is located on the border with Afghanistan and Iran.

This region has been suffering from an ethnic Baloch insurgency for decades.

Observers say that the new Pakistani movement has the same goals as the Pakistani Taliban which seeks to overthrow the Pakistani government and establish an Islamic caliphate in the Muslim-majority country with a population of 220 million.