TTP militants along border number 7,000 to 10,000: Pakistan minister

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group has between 7,000 to 10,000 fighters along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area.

In an interview with Dawn News, Sanaullah also said that the militants are “accompanied by 25,000 members of their families”.

His comments come amid an uptick in attacks in Pakistan by the TTP including the recent suicide bombing in Islamabad – the first since 2014.

The TTP increased attacks in late November, when they called off a months-long cease-fire with the Pakistan government.

“The biggest reason for this is the failure of (the) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and Counter Terrorism Department (…) It is their job to stop it,” the interior minister said, blaming the provincial government led by ousted prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

He said that Pakistan had its Army for the protection of the borders, adding that if the provincial government cannot handle the situation, it can request the federal government.

“The Army will eliminate all such elements of terrorism.”

Agreeing with the idea of an all-party conference or a national security meeting on the emerging threat of terrorism, the minister said such huddles must take place but stressed that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government first needed to sit with the federal government and talk.