Description: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist
Organization on September 1, 2010, Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a
Pakistan-based terrorist organization formed in 2007 in opposition to
Pakistani military efforts in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Previously disparate militant tribes agreed to cooperate and eventually
coalesced into TTP under the leadership of now deceased leader Baitullah
Mehsud. The group officially presented itself as a discrete entity in
2007. TTP has been led by Hakimullah Mehsud since August 2009. Other
senior leaders include Wali Ur Rehman, the TTP emir in South Waziristan,
Pakistan. TTP's goals include overthrowing the Government of Pakistan
by waging a terrorist campaign against the civilian leader of Pakistan,
its military, and NATO forces in Afghanistan. TTP uses the tribal belt
along the Afghan-Pakistani border to train and deploy its operatives,
and the group has a symbiotic relationship with al-Qa'ida (AQ). TTP
draws ideological guidance from AQ, while AQ relies on TTP for safe
haven in the Pashtun areas along the Afghan-Pakistani border. This
arrangement gives TTP access to both AQ's global terrorist network and
the operational experience of its members. Given the proximity of the
two groups and the nature of their relationship, TTP is a force
multiplier for AQ.
Activities: TTP has carried out and claimed
responsibility for numerous terrorist acts against Pakistani and U.S.
interests, including a December 2009 suicide attack on a U.S. military
base in Khowst, Afghanistan, which killed seven U.S. citizens, and an
April 2010 suicide bombing against the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar,
Pakistan, which killed six Pakistani citizens. TTP is suspected of being
involved in the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto. TTP claimed to have supported the failed attempt by
Faisal Shahzad to detonate an explosive device in New York City's Times
Square on May 1, 2010. TTP's claim was validated by investigations that
revealed that TTP directed and facilitated the plot.
Throughout 2011, TTP carried out attacks against the Government of
Pakistan and civilian targets, as well as against U.S. targets in
Pakistan. Attacks in 2011 included: a March bombing at a gas station in
Faisalabad that killed 31 people; an April double suicide bombing at a
Sufi shrine in Dera Ghazi Khan that left more than 50 dead; a May
bombing of an American consulate convoy in Peshawar that killed one
person and injured twelve; a May siege of a naval base in Karachi; the
May assassination of the PNS Mehran Saudi diplomat in Karachi; and a
September attack against a school bus that killed four children and the
bus driver.
Strength: Several thousand.
Location: Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Pakistan
External aid: TTP is believed to raise most of its
funds through kidnapping for ransom and operations that target
Afghanistan-bound military transport trucks for robbery. Such operations
enable TTP to steal military equipment, which they then sell in Afghan
and Pakistani markets.
Source: www.state.gov
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