The Pakistan Taliban is rapidly making inroads into the Punjab province despite contradictory claims by the Shahbaz Sharif government.
Pakistan will not initiate a dialogue with the local Taliban unless they lay down their arms and give up terrorism, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Friday amid reports of secret negotiations between the government and militant groups.
The case of Shahbaz Bhatti clearly shows that the terrorists were guided by someone from within the forces, as the killers not only knew that the minister had no security at the time they planned to attack him but they also succeeded in leaving the place undisturbed.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Hakimullah Mehsud has warned that his fighters were planning orchestrated attacks against the government and the military to wrest control of areas that they had lost in the country's northwest.
The offer of peace talks came at a time when the Pakistani military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the Pak-Afghan border had had little impact on the operational capabilities of the Tehrik-e-Taliban. Amir Mir reports.
A suicide bomber targeted a police van in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing two policemen, including an officer, and injuring several others. The attacker struck the vehicle of Station House Officer Syed Ajmer Shah at Nowshera in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Shah and his driver were killed in the attack, police officials told the media. Shah had received threats from the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the officials said.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings targeting Shia processions in Karachi and Lahore that claimed 16 lives on Tuesday.Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told reporters in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region on Wednesday that the two attacks on Tuesday were aimed against security personnel because "they serve the United States's interests".
Suspected militants shot and killed a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader in the erstwhile Taliban stronghold of Swat in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, police said.
Pakistan's border region remains the most dangerous place in the world and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas remains the epicentre of the world's worst of global jihad, a top Pentagon official has said.
At a time when Pakistani cricket team is in India to play a bilateral series after a gap of five year, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has termed the visit as a 'disgusting gesture', and says that cricketing ties between the two countries are badly effecting the freedom movement of Kashmir.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan on Saturday claimed responsibility for kidnapping a group of over 30 boys, who had strayed into Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province as reports said some of them had escaped and reached back to their homes.
After a temporary respite, in the unceasing suicide attcks on the Pakistani establishment, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan plans to wreak havoc across the country with a fresh series of attacks , targetting the main leadership of the country, Qari Hussain, Pakistani Taliban commander said.
Nobody from the family of Ajmal Kasab, the sole terrorist arrested during the 26/11 terror strike in Mumbai and hanged at a Pune jail on Wednesday, has asked for his body yet.But the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has demanded that New Delhi hand over the body to Pakistan.
The decision to target the Pakistani Taliban comes at a time when the UN is seeking to encourage the Afghan Taliban to pursue peace talks with the government there, a prelude to a US withdrawal from the war-ravaged country.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has taken responsibility for the attack on NATO supply trucks in Sindh, which claimed 5 lives on Friday. The TTP has warned that such attacks will continue till Pakistan blocks the supply line to Afghanistan for NATO trucks.On Friday, nearly 12 Taliban militants blocked a road at Shikarpur Sindh and stooped the NATO tankers. After chasing away the drivers, they set nearly 35 tankers on fire. Some of the tankers were destroyed completely.
The Pakistani Taliban have threatened to contaminate water sources and reservoirs with poisonous materials to pressure the army to stop military operations against them in South Waziristan tribal region. The cantonment boards of Rawalpindi and Chaklala, located near the federal capital, received the threat from the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
A top Taliban militant leader has been sacked as the deputy commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, amid speculation of a deepening rift in the terror group over the peace talks with the government.
The Taliban has vowed to launch more "high-profile" attacks against government and military installations in Pakistan.
The Al Qaeda and Taliban are unclear whether it would be in their interest to work for the defeat of Obama by stepping up acts of terrorism, says B Raman.
According to reports, the militant commanders, including Sim Khan, Mahmood Khan and Maulvi Umer, who were arrested during operation Rah-e-Rast, have confessed that they were provided financial aid, weapons and special training by secret agencies from India and Afghanistan to fight against the Pakistan Army.
'India is our jageer,' Taliban spokesperson Azam Tariq said, 'and we will attack to take possession of it. We are training lots of fighters and suicide bombers who will be used for this purpose.'
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has said that it would not rule out a ceasefire if Pakistan's new government "shows seriousness" about its offer of holding a dialogue.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has said it will continue carrying out suicide attacks and targetting Pakistani security forces despite joining other militant groups in a pledge not to kill innocent people or to resort to kidnappings for ransom.
Although there are still no signs of a military offensive in North Waziristan by the Pakistan army, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has said that it is all set to combat the upcoming military operation in the region that according to the outfit, would be launched in the last week of August.
Fidayeen Islam, the suicide bomber squad of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, has claimed that more than 300 fidayeen (suicide bombers) have been sent to various parts of Pakistan to target the Shia and Bralvi religious centres.
Although the United States have denied confirmation, but it's apparent that Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud has been killed in a recent US drone attack in South Waziristan, Pakistan. Mehsud's death signifies tremendous implications, and was possibly a result of intelligence penetration. Explains security expert B Raman
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has appointed a new spokesperson, who will work as deputy to main Taliban spokesperson Azam Tariq.
Amid increasing pressure from the Obama administration to blacklist the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Azam Tariq, the militant organisation's key spokesperson has said that "it makes no difference if the Americans blacklist the TTP or not, our war against the Jews and their 'friends' will remain forever".
Pakistani security officials have claimed arresting a Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan operative who is said to be the mastermind of the suicide attack which targeted former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's rally in Karachi in October 2007.
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has condemned the release of Central Intelligence Agency contractor Raymond Davis under a "blood money" deal with relatives of two men he killed and threatened to target all those who aided the US in securing his acquittal in court.
A video purportedly released by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing in Times Square in New York City, a Washington-based intelligence group said.
The Taliban on Monday warned the Pakistan government not to release American national Raymond Davis, who allegedly shot dead two men in Lahore in January, saying any official involved in a move to free him would be killed by militants. "Any Pakistani government official playing any role in Davis' release will be killed by the Taliban," said Azam Tariq, spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The Taliban have also demanded that Davis should be executed by the authorities.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on an elite Pakistani army training centre at Mardan in the country's northwest region.The suicide bomber unleashed his lethal payload in the midst of a parade, killing 27 soldiers and wounding 40 others. TTP spokesperson Ihsanullah Ihsan said, "We proudly claim responsibility for the Mardan attack; we sent the Fidayeen (suicide bomber) and he successfully carried out the attack."
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has urged the Mehsud tribesmen of South Waziristan to leave their homes, claiming that the Taliban is in a state of war with the government of Pakistan.
A top leader of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has said that his group will seek mediation by countries like Saudi Arabia if the government offers to hold peace talks.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has warned of intensifying attacks on security forces in Bajaur region of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas if does not stop the offensive against extremists in the region.
At least 30 militants were killed and 15 others injured in the air strikes in Pandiali area of Mohmand Agency, sources close to the security forces said.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's Shura (the supreme council) has decided that Hakimullah Mehsud will not directly meet the media as it would help spy agencies locate him.
Former premier Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by Taliban, a chargesheet filed by Pakistani investigators to an anti-terrorism court has said, while giving clean chit to former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf of any involvement in the case.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, led by Hakimullah Mehsud, has intensified its assaults on Pakistani security forces in South Waziristan.