ISLAMABAD — Daesh (the so-called IS) is increasing its presence in Pakistan, recruiting Uzbek militants, attracting disgruntled Taliban fighters and partnering with one of Pakistan’s most violent sectarian groups, according to police officers, Taliban officials and analysts.
Its latest atrocity was an attack on a Sufi shrine in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday that killed at least 52 people and wounded 105 others. The group said in a statement that a suicide bomber attacked the shrine with the intent of killing Shiite Muslims and issued a picture of the attacker.
When Daesh circulated a photograph of one of the attackers in last month’s deadly assault on a police academy in southwestern Baluchistan province, two Taliban officials said that the attacker was an Uzbek, most likely a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). More than 60 people, most of them police recruits, were killed in that Oct. 26 attack when three assailants battled security forces for hours before being killed or detonating their suicide vests.
The Taliban officials, both of whom are familiar with the IMU, spoke on condition of anonymity because their leadership has banned them from talking to the media.
Authorities initially said the police academy attack was orchestrated by militants hiding out in Afghanistan and blamed Pakistan’s virulently anti-Shiite group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. But Daesh later claimed responsibility and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi spokesman Ali Bin Sufyan said they partnered with Daesh to carry out the assault.
Daesh in Khorasan has set up its base in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, and while it has pledged allegiance to Daesh in Syria and Iraq, it remains unclear whether there are direct operational or financial links between the two.
According to police, Afghan officials and Daesh media outlets, the majority of Daesh fighters in Afghanistan are Pakistani nationals, mostly from the tribal regions. Disgruntled Taliban fighters from Pakistan and Afghanistan have joined along with foreign fighters, mainly from central Asia. The group’s leader until his death in July in a drone strike was Hafiz Saeed Khan, a former Pakistani Taliban commander. Daesh has never acknowledged Khan’s death, which was confirmed by both the Afghan and US militaries.
Counterterrorism officials in Pakistan say that Daesh has begun reaching out to local militants through its rich social media presence.
“They are inspiring the like-minded youth in Pakistan through their strong social media propaganda,” said Junaid Sheikh, a senior counterterrorism commander in the southern city of Karachi.
“There is evidence that militants of other organizations like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Al-Qaeda in the Subcontinent and other Sunni extremist organizations switched their ideology toward Daesh and acted like their activists,” he said. The recruitment of Uzbek militants is particularly worrisome and a “significant threat to our national security,” he added.
He said Uzbek fighters have carried out numerous major attacks in Pakistan, including a 2011 attack on a naval base and a 2014 attack on the Karachi Airport. Local militant groups provided the intelligence to carry out the attacks, he said.
A resident of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution said he spoke with two Daesh members late last year. Unlike the Pakistani and Afghan insurgents, the resident, who fled to Pakistan after his home was overrun by Daesh fighters, said the foreign fighters were friendly and engaged with local residents. One Iranian fighter said he was recruited for his computer skills, the resident said.
Previously, Uzbek insurgents normally allied with the Pakistani and Afghan branches of the Taliban, having sworn allegiance to Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar. However, many Uzbek fighters split from the Taliban and declared allegiance to Daesh last year after it was revealed that Taliban officials had hidden the fact that Mullah Omar had died two years earlier.
A senior police official in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, where several militant groups are headquartered, said Daesh is firmly entrenched in Pakistan and its roots are growing stronger as it aligns with Pakistan’s extremist groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. The police official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The official also said that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi had largely relocated from Punjab to Baluchistan province in the face of a major military campaign. — AP
