Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Pakistan Bombing Highlights IS Threat in Afghan-Pakistan Region


The suicide bombing Tuesday at a government office building in northwest Pakistan highlights the increasingly violent presence of the Islamic State militant group in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

Jamaat ul-Ahrar, which is part of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) umbrella militant group and has reportedly joined forces with IS, has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Pakistani officials have consistently denied that IS has a presence in the country. But several recent attacks by IS-affiliates have kindled fears that the militant group has been successful in making inroads into a nation ripe for IS activities.

Pakistan's counterterrorism authorities on Tuesday told VOA that they arrested a group of 13 suspected militants operating a recruiting and training facility for IS in Punjab state. 

Underground training center

Security forces found "an underground training center and seized automatic weapons, communication equipment, bomb-making material, laptops, CDs containing IS propaganda material, and maps of the Pakistani military's bases and other facilities," said the officials, requesting anonymity.

Pakistan's Dawn newspaper said the suspects confessed that they pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi. 
One of the detainees facilitated contact between the suspects and a Pakistani national who was in charge of recruiting Pakistani militants to Syria. The man helped nine suspected militants reach Syria through Turkey, Dawn said, citing official documents.
Turkish officials, meanwhile, revealed Tuesday that two Pakistanis, along with a Briton, were arrested last week in Istanbul for links to IS.  
Spike in Pakistan
Pakistan has recently seen a spike in IS-related activities inside the country.
A predominantly Punjab-based terrorist organization, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which is touting increasing ties to IS, claimed responsibility for a bombing this month that killed 25 people at a used clothing market in a Pakistani tribal region. 
Authorities in Karachi last week discovered a network of women raising funds for IS.
IS activity in Pakistan is blending into the group's growing stronghold in neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistan and Afghan authorities recently combined forces to shut down a mobile IS radio station that has been transmitting from the mountains on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
IS fighters in Afghanistan are active in various districts of the eastern province of Nangarhar, including Achin.
Taking prisoners
IS is reportedly holding up to 300 prisoners at eight jails in rugged terrain in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border, Afghan officials told VOA. 
Most IS prisoners are being held on charges of working for the Afghan government or supporting the rival Taliban. 
Achin's governor, Haji Ghalib, told VOA that IS militants have captured civilians and those who had risen up to confront the group. During the past two months, IS has arrested 300 local residents, Ghaleb told VOA.
Local residents in Achin told VOA that many tribal leaders are still missing after they were abducted by the militant group. 
"Many tribal elders have been taken away by IS militants and there is no information if they are dead or still alive," a local resident, who requested anonymity, told VOA. 
Afghan security forces launched operations against IS, but the area has not yet been cleared of the fighters — some of whom fled across the border into Pakistan, local officials said.

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