Baloch separatist outfit merges with TTP militant group

Islamabad: In the latest instance of militant groups forging hands, the deadly terrorist organisation Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan on Friday claimed that a second militant group from Balochistan has announced allegiance to the banned outfit.

"The militant group led by separatist leader Mazar Baloch from the Makran district of southern Balochistan has joined TTP," the outlawed terror group's spokesperson Muhammad Khurasani said in a statement.

Khurasani referred to the newly merged group as "the most influential" among the Baloch liberation and separatist groups.

Though the militant group in its statement did not provide any details about the first Baloch group to join it, the rebels had claimed in June this year that a group of Baloch militants under the leadership of Aslam Baloch had joined the TTP.

The latest merger has brought the total tally of groups joining the TTP militant group that demands the rule of Sharia across Pakistan to 22 since July 2020 when a reconciliation process was initiated by the rebels with the help of the Afghan Taliban.

Since then, several smaller splinter groups of militants, including the deadly Jamaatul Ahrar, re-joined the umbrella organisation TTP which was set up in 2007.

The groups survived several operations by the security forces over the years and emerged stronger in the wake of the Afghan Taliban getting power in their country.

Pakistan last year began a process of reconciliation with The TTP through the good offices of the Afghan Taliban but nothing came out of it.

The groups called off a ceasefire in November and have launched several attacks on the security forces, including the latest suicide bombing in Islamabad that left a police officer dead.