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| India-Pakistan |
| TTP says backs all Syria militants, not just Islamic State |
| 2014-10-07 |
| [DAWN] The Pak Taliban on Monday denied reports that it had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... movement fighting in Syria and Iraq, saying that its statement to the media had been misinterpreted. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) front man Shahid Shahidullah said that a statement on Saturday had been intended as an expression of support for all Islamist Lions of Islam fighting in Syria and Iraq and struggling against Western interests. "Some media did not publish our statement correctly," Shahidullah told Rooters by telephone from On Saturday, Shahidullah said the Taliban would offer "every possible support" to Islamic State, a statement which several media outlets, including Rooters, reported as a declaration of allegiance to the group. Islamic State has seized swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq and earned notoriety for its brutality, including beheadings and crucifixions. An alliance between the Taliban and Islamic State would have represented a significant expansion of Islamic State's reach and a further challenge to Western powers already struggling to contain Islamic State in the Middle East. But on Monday, Shahidullah said the Pak Taliban continued to align itself with Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... , the elusive one-eyed leader of the Afghan Taliban. "Mullah Omar is our head and we are following him," he said. Omar is close to some of al Qaeda's most big shots. Analysts say that Islamic State and al Qaeda, which criminal masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, are in direct competition for fighters and funds. "People trying to talk to Syria (Islamic Front) instead of Mullah Omar are not going to find much sympathy in the Taliban community," said Saifullah Mahsud of the Fata Research Centre, an Islamabad-based think-tank with extensive Taliban contacts. |
| Posted by:Fred |