Senior Taliban leader Suhail Shaheen on Sunday categorically denied that the Pakistani Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants are in Afghanistan, adding that banned outfit is present in Pakistan’s tribal areas and hence Islamabad’s responsibility, “not ours.” Pakistan, on the other hand, alleges that the TTP uses Afghan soil to carry out attacks against Pakistan.
The Peshawar Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has announced a Rs10 million reward for anyone providing information about the bomber, who blew himself at a mosque in Peshawar’s Police Lines, and his facilitators. The Peshawar CTD released photographs of the suicide bomber, who could be seen wearing a mask before the attack – that killed over 100 people and injured 169 people.
A picture of the “advanced level” of security at a US airport against terrorist threats has left social media guffawing. The image is from a self-check-in counter where the in-built system asks a person, “Are you a terrorist?”. It also offers two options: “yes” or “no”. Asaad Sam Hanna, a freelance journalist, shared the snapshot on Twitter.
A Da’ish suicide bomber who killed 64 people at an imambargah Peshawar last week was an Afghan exile who returned home to train for the attack. There have been warnings Afghanistan could become a recruiting ground and staging post for militants since the Taliban returned to power last year following the hasty withdrawal of US-led forces.
Muslim men should be profiled at airports as terrorists will “generally be of a Muslim persuasion”, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said in an interview. He added that they are going to be single males travelling on their own… If you are travelling with a family of kids, on you go; the chances you are going to blow them all up is zero, you can’t say stuff, because it’s racism, but it will generally be males of a Muslim persuasion.
65-year-old, retired Pakistani Air Force officer, Mohammad Rafiq, managed to overpower a gunman in a terror attack at a mosque in Norway. In a spectacular display of bravery during the attempted terror attack, in which shots were fired but no one was hit, Rafiq was the first to tackle the shooter and pin him down while police arrived.
Following an alert issued by intelligence services that militants could target security and other sensitive installations in the city, a high alert has been declared by the Punjab home department in the district with the police directed to be more vigilant of their surroundings. Militants may attack police stations within Rawalpindi and could also attack other sensitive installations.
The US State Department has confirmed the decision to declare the armed separatist group, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), as a global terrorist organisation, hoping the move will help minimise its existence. With this classification, it is a crime for anyone in the United States to assist the militants and any US assets they may have will now be frozen.