ISLAMABAD: The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or the Pakistani Taliban, have announced a fresh offensive against Pakistan, the militant group said on Friday, amid an ongoing conflict between Islamabad and Kabul over a surge in militancy in Pakistan.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent months and blames it on the TTP, or the Pakistani Taliban, which operates both inside Pakistan and from Afghan territory. Islamabad accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of providing safe havens for the TTP, which Kabul denies.
The neighbors have clashed along the frontier since last Thursday, when Afghanistan launched a border offensive in retaliation for Pakistani air strikes. Islamabad has hit back along the border and with fresh air strikes, bombing multiple sites including the former US air base at Bagram, the capital Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar.
“Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan announces the beginning of its annual military campaign titled ‘Operation Nasir’,” the group said, without sharing any operational details.
The Pakistani government did not immediately respond to the announcement, which has raised the spectre of more violence not just in Pakistan’s western regions bordering Afghanistan, but also of further intensity in clashes between the neighbors.
