By Aamir Latif
ISLAMABAD
The reeling Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a mother coalition of different insurgent groups operating in Pakistan, has announced joining forces with its affiliate group Lashkar-e-Islam, which has been fighting the Pakistanı army in the restive Khyber Agency tribal region.
In a statement issued Friday, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said it was sending fighters to join Lashkar-e-Islam militants who have already been pushed from the more urban parts of Khyber agency to the remote Tirah valley by the army.
"From now on, a proper war against the army will be initiated," the statement said.
The Pakistani army launched the "Khyber-one" operation in October against the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) group.
"Some of our Mujahideen have already reached Khyber Agency and joined Lashkar-e-Islam, while many others are going to join them soon," said the statement.
Security analysts, however, give little weight to the Taliban group’s announcement. The network has been badly dispersed, wıth most of its militants on the run, due to the ongoing military operation in lawless North Waziristan, in northwestern Pakistan, since June 15.
"The TTP has been badly crippled by the internal rifts, and the army operation. It is not in a position do something, practically, for the Lashkar-e-Islam," Ishtiaq Mehsud, an Islamabad-based security analyst said.
Rifts erupted over the succession of slain TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in November 2013 in North Waziristan.
This internal strife has led the once formidable network to split into four groups, thus affecting the group’s capability to strike in an efficacious manner.
"This is a mere effort to show the presence of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and of its chief Mullah Fazlullah. Otherwise, there is practically no longer any TTP in Pakistan," Mehsud said.
Meanwhile, the TTP has appointed little-known Mohammad Khurrasani as its new spokesman -- weeks after the sacking of the former, Shahidullah Shahid, who, along with five other commanders, had announced his allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).
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