Washington/Islamabad: The US has slapped sanctions on the chief of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Noor Wali Mehsud and designated him as a global terrorist, as the Trump administration unveiled new tools to pursue terror suspects, their financiers and supporters globally.
Noor Wali Mehsud was designated as a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ by the US Department of State, Tuesday, on the eve of the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Mehsud took over the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in June 2018 following the death of Mullah Fazlullah in Afghanistan.
“Noor Wali, also known as Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, was named the leader of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in June 2018 following the death of former TTP leader Mullah Fazlullah,” according to the US a State Department statement. “Under Noor Wali’s leadership, TTP has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly terrorist attacks across Pakistan,” it said.
Interestingly, Mehsud’s designation came on the same day India described Pakistan as the ‘epicentre’ of global terrorism.
Since its establishment in 2007, the TTP has remained a potent threat and the most dangerous Islamist terrorist organisation in Pakistan. The TTP has been involved in more than 1,400 terrorist attacks in Pakistan over the last 12 years.
The revitalised TTP under Mehsud appears to have grown deadlier than it has been in recent years and could potentially usher in some changes to the current jihadist landscape of Pakistan, according to an article published by the ‘Jamestown Foundation’, a Washington-based institute for research and analysis, in May.
Meanwhile in another development President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday on ‘modernising and strengthening sanctions authorities to combat terrorism’. “Today’s executive order by President Trump adds further muscle to US counterterrorism efforts,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a briefing to reporters at the White House.
AFP
