TTP claims responsibilty for killing of 2 Pak ISI officials

Kabul [Afghanistan], January 5 (ANI): The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan on Wednesday claimed responsibility for the killing of two senior Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials, reported Khaama Press.

Police on Wednesday said that two intelligence officials were shot dead while they were cleaning their vehicle outside a restaurant. The suspects after firing the shots fled the scene. Spokesperson of the Pakistani Taliban, Muhammad Khurasani in a statement on Wednesday said that TTP fighters have killed two Pakistani officials.

A special unit of TTP killed Multan Naweed Sadiq, Deputy Director of ISI and his colleague Inspector Nasir Butt. The two were killed on the Bismillah highway, in the Kanwal district of Punjab province, said Khurasani, according to Khaama Press.
The two officials killed were known for capturing TTP insurgents and other militant groups and for conducting complicated investigations in Pakistan. According to sources, one of the two was the head of the federal government’s anti-terrorism department.

About 1,000 people were killed and injured in attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan on the Pakistan government in 2022, according to statistics published by the TTP terrorist group, Khaama Press reported. TTP said in a video, that most of their attacks took place in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. They also launched attacks outside the province, Khaama Press reported.

The report quoted Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah who claimed that the TTP has hideouts in Afghanistan and organizes its attacks against Pakistan from there. He also mentioned that Pakistan has the right to attack these safe havens of TTP in Afghanistan to protect its people from the rising attacks on border regions in Pakistan.

On Monday, the 40th National Security Committee (NSC) meeting under the leadership of the Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was held. During the committee meeting, the leadership assured that Pakistan will maintain its resolve of Zero Tolerance for terrorism in Pakistan and reaffirmed its determination to take on any and all entities that resort to violence. Further, according to the same report the NSC forum also mentioned that the law enforcement agencies especially Counter-Terrorism Departments (CTD) will be upgraded to the required fighting capabilities to fight terrorism.

Notably, this zero-tolerance stance on terrorism comes at a time when the peace agreement between the TTP and the Pakistan administration was revoked. And recently Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that despite the agreement, Afghanistan’s soil is being used for attacks against his country. Asif also pointed out that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accounted for 58 per cent of all terrorist incidents in Pakistan, with some of them also occurring in Balochistan.