Article Author:
Associated Press
Mounir Ahmed
Islamabad (AP) — A vehicle carrying members of a Pakistani Taliban group was attacked during a late-night roadside bombing in eastern Afghanistan, leading to senior leadership and three died. Other militants, several Pakistani officials and extremist figures said on Monday. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the night's murder.His death is a heavy blow to the Pakistani Taliban, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan group, or the TTP.
The TTP accused Pakistani intelligence services of the killings without providing evidence or elaborating.
His three other militants killed included Kurasani's driver and two of his aides. No one was in the car at the time of the attack, according to Pakistani officials and TTP members who spoke to The Associated Press, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the attack had not yet been publicly announced.
A statement from the TTP was expected later on Monday.
The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group, but have allied themselves with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan a year ago, as US and NATO forces were in the final stages of withdrawal.
The TTP has rebelled in Pakistan for the past 14 years, fighting for stricter enforcement of Islamic law in the country, the release of government detainees, and a reduction in the presence of Pakistani forces. Old tribal areas of the country.
Kurasani, a senior TTP leader, split in 2014 to form his own armed group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which later joined the Pakistani Taliban. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar was designated a terrorist group by the United States in 2016. The Bounty for Justice, the U.S. Department of State's counter-terrorism bounty program, offered up to $3 million for information about Khurasani.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has been accused of carrying out multiple attacks against the Pakistani military and religious minorities. The group also claimed responsibility for the March 2016 killing of two Pakistani workers at a US consulate in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
That same year, it claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in a park in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore. It killed over 70 people.
The TTP — an umbrella group of several warring factions — has also been behind numerous attacks against Pakistani forces and civilians over the past 15 years.
Khurasani was among his TTP negotiators, who had been in talks with Pakistani officials since May. His three other militants who died in the bombing were identified by security officials and his TTP members as Hassan Ali, Mufti Hassan and Hafiz his Daulat. It was not immediately clear where they were buried.
It was not immediately clear whether or how Kurasani's killing would affect a nearly three-month ceasefire between the TTP and the Pakistani government. The ceasefire was originally announced in May and extended indefinitely after talks with the TTP hosted in Kabul by the Pakistani government and the Afghan Taliban.
The prospects for progress in negotiations between the two countries are increasing.
The TTP has long fought for strict enforcement of Islamic law in Pakistan, for the release of members from government custody, and for a reduced military presence in Pakistan's former Northwest tribal areas.
Islamabad has called on neighboring new Taliban rulers to prevent militant groups from using Afghan territory for attacks inside Pakistan. Prior to the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, Islamabad and Kabul often exchanged accusations, accusing each other of protecting militants. It says construction of more than 93% of the fence along its border with Afghanistan has been completed to prevent attacks.
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His AP writer Maamoun Youssef from Cairo contributed to this report.