Country Reports on Terrorism 2014 - Foreign Terrorist Organizations: Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan

aka Pakistani Taliban; Tehreek-e-Taliban; Tehrik-e-Taliban; Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan; Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan; TTP

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 tribal militants agreed to cooperate and eventually coalesced into TTP under the leadership of now deceased leader Baitullah Mehsud. TTP was led by Hakimullah Mehsud from August 2009 until his death in November 2013. Following Hakimullah Mehsud's death, TTP has been led by Mullah Fazlullah, formerly the leader of TTP's chapter in the Swat area of Pakistan. Since Fazlullah became TTP's leader, the group has been engaged in violent infighting. A rival faction led by Khan Said – a former TTP commander who had previously clashed with Hakimullah – publicly split from TTP in May 2014. Separately, TTP entered into peace talks with the Pakistani government in early 2014, but the talks collapsed in June 2014. In October 2014, the chief spokesman and five regional commanders defected from TTP and publicly pledged allegiance to ISIL.

TTP's goals include waging a terrorist campaign against the Pakistani military and state, as well as against NATO forces in Afghanistan, and overthrowing the Government of Pakistan. TTP uses the tribal belt along the Afghan-Pakistani border to train and deploy its operatives, and the group has ties to 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.

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 involvement in the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. TTP directed and facilitated the failed attempt by Faisal Shahzad to detonate an explosive device in New York City's Times Square on May 1, 2010.

Throughout 2011 and 2012, TTP carried out attacks against the Government of Pakistan and civilian targets, as well as against U.S. targets in Pakistan. Attacks in 2011 targeted civilians, Pakistani government and military targets, and an American consulate convoy in a series of suicide bombings and attacks. In 2012, TTP carried out attacks targeting a mosque, police checkpoint, a Pakistani Air Force base, and a bus carrying Shia Muslims.

In 2013, TTP attacked both civilian and government targets. In May, three TTP bombings, two targeting political parties and a third targeting a newly-created elite police force killed 14 people and wounded 54 others. In September, a TTP suicide bomber struck outside a church in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 81 and wounding approximately 140. In October, a Pakistani government minister and nine other civilians were killed when a suicide bomber, believed to be a member of a local branch of the TTP in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, struck outside the official's home during the Eid al-Adha holiday. In November, twin bomb attacks targeting a Shia neighborhood of Karachi, Pakistan killed six people and wounded 35 others.

TTP continued attacking both civilian and Pakistani government targets in 2014. In January, a TTP suicide attack on a police convoy in Karachi killed three and injured ten others. Also in January, a bombing against a military convoy, which was carried out by TTP in the Pakistani town of Bannu, killed at least 20 Pakistani soldiers and wounded at least 30. Two days later, a TTP suicide bombing at a bazaar in Rawalpindi killed eight soldiers and three children. In February, at least 13 policemen were killed and almost 60 others were injured in a suicide bombing targeting a bus carrying officers to a local training center near Karachi. In June, TTP launched two consecutive attacks against Karachi's international airport, one on June 8 and the second followed two days later. In the June 8 attack, carried out in conjunction with Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a squad of commandos, disguised as government security forces, stormed the airport. The ensuing fight between security forces and the TTP, which lasted through the night, killed at least 36 people. The second attack, in which at least two gunmen opened fire on a guard post at the airport perimeter, caused no casualties. In December, TTP laid siege to a primary school in Peshawar, Pakistan. The eight-hour assault on the school killed 145 people, 132 of whom were children.

Strength: Several thousand.

Location/Area of Operation: Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan

Funding and External Aid: TTP is believed to raise most of its funds through kidnapping ransoms, criminal activity, and extortion.