South Asia Terrorism Portal
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: IS-KP Advances Giriraj Bhattacharjee Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On August 30, 2022, one Frontier Constabulary (FC) trooper was killed and another critically injured in an explosion in the Yusuf Abad area of Bajaur District. Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-KP) later claimed responsibility for the incident.
On August 29, 2022, suspected IS-KP terrorists killed a Police constable and two construction workers in the Mamuzai area of Orakzai District.
On August 19, 2022, two policemen, Havaldar Saeed Ahmad and Sepoy Inayatur Rahman, were killed in an explosion near a check post in Bajaur District.
On July 16, 2022, IS-KP militants attacked and killed two persons, including a policeman, at a check post in the Arjali Nadi locality of Bara in Khyber District.
On May 15, 2022, IS-KP cadres killed two Sikh traders, Kuljeet Singh and Ranjit Singh, in Peshawar city.
On March 4, 2022, 63 worshippers lost their lives and another 194 were injured, when an IS-KP suicide attacker, Jalaybib Kabuli, blew himself up inside a Shia Mosque in the Koocha Risaldar area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), IS-KP has killed at least 76 persons (71civilians and five SF personnel) in nine attacks in KP in the current year, thus far (data till September 4, 2022). During the corresponding period of 2021, the outfit had killed one person (civilian) in one attack. Since October 24, 2016 when the first IS-KP-linked attack was reported in the province, a total of 24 IS-KP attacks, resulting in 131 deaths (122 civilians and nine SF personnel), have been reported. On October 24, 2016, IS-KP terrorists shot dead a police officer, Akbar Ali, at a bus stop near his home in the Sardaryab area of Charsadda District. The deceased was killed when he was on his way to work in Peshawar.
Some of the significant attacks prior to 2022 included:
December 19, 2021: Two persons were killed and three were injured during a shooting incident at a polling station in the Takht-e-Nasarati tehsil of Karak District.
October 27,2020: At least eight people were killed and over 125 injured after an explosive device in a bag was detonated inside a madrassa in the Dir Colony of Peshawar city.
November 23, 2018: At least 33 people were killed and 56 were injured in a suicide bombing by IS-KP in Kalaya, Orakzai District.
On the other hand, the Security Forces (SFs), during this period (October 24, 2016 and September 4, 2022), have killed at least 30 IS-KP terrorists. The prominent incidents included the following:
August 22, 2022: SFs killed an IS-KP ‘commander’, Hayat Muhammad aka Salman, in a mountainous area in Inzaray, between the Lower Dir and Bajaur Districts of KP.
July 2, 2022: At least three local IS-KP ‘commanders’ were killed in an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Ghulam Khan Kalay in North Waziristan District.
May 14, 2022: An IS-KP ‘commander’, Hassan Shah, was killed along with a suicide bomber in an early morning raid, in the Wali Abad area of Pishtakhara in Peshawar. The IBO was carried out by the Counter-Terrorism Department over the reported presence of the IS-KP ‘commander’, along with a suicide bomber, in the Wali Abad area.
June 24, 2017: IS-KP ‘chief’ for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muhammad Arif and one of his associates were killed by SFs at Arsalan Flour Mills located on Dalazak Road, Peshawar.
At the end of 2014, some prominent leaders of a breakaway faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) pledged bayah (allegiance) to IS-Central’s then Amir (chief) Abu-Bakr-al-Baghdadi. Those who pledged allegiance to the IS included the then TTP ‘spokesperson’ Shahidullah Shahid; Kurram Agency ‘chief’ Hafiz Quran Dolat; Khyber Agency ‘chief’ Gul Zaman; Peshawar ‘chief’ Mufti Hassan; Hangu ‘chief’ Khalid Mansoor; and Orakzai Agency ‘commander’ Hafiz Saeed Khan. Soon after, this group had to shift to the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan, as did most terrorist groups operating in the tribal areas of Pakistan, under pressure from Pakistani SFs’ Operation Zarb-e-Azb, followed by Operations Khyber 1 and Khyber 2. On January 26, 2015, IS-KP was officially announced with a twelve-member shura (governing council) consisting of nine Pakistanis, two Afghans, and one person of unknown origin. Later, in May 2019, a separate chapter for Pakistan – Islamic State Pakistan Province (IS-PP) – was established.
However, on July 2021, IS-PP Wali (spiritual leader) Abu Mahmood notified an order, based on the direction of IS-Central, stating the Mujahedeen based in North and South Waziristan, Mohmand, Bajaur, Kohat, Khyber, Dir, Peshawar, Orakzai, Kurram and the bordering areas, were merged with IS-KP. He added that these Mujahedeen should act according to the directions of the Wali of IS-KP.
There was a surge in IS-KP attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after July 2021.
Indeed, IS-KP has emerged as the biggest threat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the Taliban takeover of Kabul on August 15, 2021. Since August 16, 2021, the province has recorded 128 civilian fatalities, of which 88 were attributable to one or other terrorist group (data till September 4, 2022). Of the 88 attributable kills, IS-KP was found responsible for 79 civilian deaths, TTP for seven deaths, and the Hafiz Gul Bahadur (HGB) group for two. Similarly, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded 157 SF fatalities during this period, of which 93 were attributable; of these, IS-KP was found responsible for nine SF deaths, HGB for 25, TTP for 52, and Ittehad Musallah Islami Mujahideen (IMAM) for seven.
Abdul Sayed a Sweden-based researcher on jihadi groups active in Afghanistan-Pakistan, noted, on March 11, 2022,
Meanwhile, on January 22, 2022, Moazzam Jah Ansari, Inspector General of Police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, expressed concern: "I see IS-K [IS-KP] as a bigger threat to peace and security in the province compared to the TTP in near future."
Worse, the fate of the ongoing TTP talks with the Pakistan Government is likely to influence the future growth of IS-KP in Pakistan, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. On Jul 20, 2022, Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) Director Muhammad Amir Rana in a paper "Pakistan's peace talks with TTP: Prospective outcome and implications", wrote,
IS-KP's presence and violence are intended to proclaim its supremacy, further complicating the terrorism landscape in Pakistan's most restive province, reeling under attacks by multiple terrorist formations. The rising violence compounds the pressure on a country already staggering under an intense economic crisis and multiple natural disasters. The rising burdens of economic stresses and the necessity of increasing resources and personnel for relief and rehabilitation, compete with the escalating demands created by the terrorist violence that engulfs the region.
Maoist: Targeting Intelligence Flows Deepak Kumar Nayak Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On August 30, 2022, Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres killed Irpa Rama Rao (30), the deputy Sarpanch (head of the Panchayat, village level local self-Government institution) of Kurnapally Gram Panchayat, branding him a ‘police informer’, in the Cherla Mandal (administrative sub-division) of Bhadradri Kothagudem District, Telangana. Police disclosed that four CPI-Maoist came militia (people’s army) members went to Rao’s residence late in the night of August 29, woke up his wife Kanak and told her that they were taking Rao with them. In the early hours on August 30, the militia members brought him back to the village, smashed his head with an axe and left him dead in a pool of blood on the outskirts of the village. A letter from the CPI-Maoist Cherla-Sabari Area Committee was left at the spot, stating that the deceased had been working as a ‘police informer’ and was consequently punished. The letter also cautioned the public not collaborate with the Police for greed of the money offered.
On August 27, 2022, a youth, identified as Ramlal Podai, was killed by CPI-Maoist cadres on the suspicion of being a ‘police informer’ at Khadkarao village under the Forestgaon Police Station limits in Narayanpur District, Chhattisgarh. A group of around 15 armed Maoists stormed Khadkarao village located on the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border late in the night of August 26, barged into Podai’s house and dragged him out to a place on the outskirts of the village where they slit his throat. A letter recovered from the site accused Podai of working as an ‘informer’ for the Police and stated that he was punished for passing on information about Maoist activities in the area. The letter issued by the ‘East Bastar division’ of the CPI-Maoist, also threatened the Police officials of the Forestgaon Police Station.
On August 23, 2022, CPI-Maoist cadres killed Katte Kalyan, a young tribal man, on the pretext of being a ‘police informer’, in the Dantewada District of Chhattisgarh. Armed Maoists went to Kalyan's house and took him out to 'Praja court' (people's/Kangaroo Court held by the Maoists) at some distance from the village. The Maoists tied his hands and then killed him. A Maoist poster stating that Kalyan had been passing on information to the Police for the past few years was found near the dead body.
On August 18, 2022, CPI-Maoist cadres killed Ananta Rout, suspecting him of being a ‘police informer’, at Dhekunpani village located in the Sunabeda Wildlife Sanctuary in the Nuapada District of Odisha. A native of Chhattisgarh, Rout had relocated to Dhekunpani more than a decade earlier. The Maoists had been after him for the past two years. Rajesh Pandit, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, South-western Range, noted, “Maoists were after him (Rout) for quite some time. They were suspecting that he was acting as informer for the local police.” The CPI-Maoist ‘Mainpur-Sunabeda divisional committee’ pasted a poster soon after the incident claiming responsibility for the incident and warning people against working on behalf of the Police. In pamphlets and posters, the ultras declared that Rout was punished as he was a ‘police informer’.
On August 18, 2022, a villager was shot dead by CPI-Maoist cadres on suspicion of being a ‘police informer’ in the Balaghat District of Madhya Pradesh. The victim was identified as Lalu Dhurve of Jagla village. The Police found handwritten notes near his dead body, which declared that he was punished by the ‘Malajkhand Area Committee’ because he helped the Police.
According to partial data collated by South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 26 civilians (16 in Chhattisgarh; three in Maharashtra; two each in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha; one each in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Telangana) have been killed by the Naxalites (Left Wing Extremist), labelling them as ‘police informers’, since the beginning of the current year (all data till September 4, 2022).
In the corresponding period of 2021, at least 17 civilians were killed (eight in Chhattisgarh; three in Odisha; two in Bihar; one each in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra), accused to be ‘police informers.’ In the remaining period of 2021, another 10 civilians were killed (three in Chhattisgarh; two in Madhya Pradesh; one each in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra and Telangana), on the same pretext.
Significantly, out of 3,930 civilians killed across the country by the Naxalites since March 6, 2000, when SATP started documenting Left-Wing Extremism (LWE)-linked violence in the country (data till September 4, 2022), as many as 823 civilians were killed by Naxalites, branding them as ‘police informers’. Importantly, the first such incident of killing was recorded on March 28, 2000, when People’s War Group (PWG) killed a former activist of the Radical Youth League in Nizamabad District of Andhra Pradesh. A maximum 76 such killings were reported in 2010.
The geographical distribution of such killings indicates that, since March 6, 2000, Chhattisgarh has recorded 198 such fatalities and was the worst among the 11 States where such fatalities were recorded over this period. Odisha, with 162 such fatalities ranked second; Andhra Pradesh, with 155, third; Jharkhand, with 131, fourth; Maharashtra, with 79, fifth; Bihar, with 49, sixth; West Bengal, with 27, seventh; Madhya Pradesh, with 10, eighth; Telangana, with seven, ninth; Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, with two each, a joint tenth.
As the Maoist insurgency across the country has been successfully contained with strong action by the Security Forces (SFs), and with the Maoists losing their erstwhile strongholds, the suspicions of the Maoists fall increasingly on civilians, on the assumption that their movements have been compromised by a leakage of information. To check their cadre losses, the Maoists have been killing civilians on the suspicion of their collaboration with the police. In most of these civilian killings, the Maoists leave a letter/leaflet/pamphlet, warning villagers not to help the Police, on pain of death.
Meanwhile, according to an August 26, 2022, report, the Maoists released a chilling video of a 'Praja court' trial, to create an atmosphere of terror among civilians living in the Maoist-affected areas. The purported video hearing, somewhere in the dense forests of Telangana, depicted a person being blindfolded, with hands tied behind his back, who had abandoned the Maoists and surrendered to the Police, to join the mainstream, and was suspected of helping the Police.
With SFs strengthening their position more and more against the Maoists in the latter’s erstwhile strongholds, the Maoists have once again intensified their campaign against suspected ‘police informers’, hoping to eliminate ‘moles’ or ‘spies’. Such killings had declined between 2018 and 2021, but are now on the rise again in 2022. The rising number of executions suggest growing pressure on the Maoists, even as they will inevitably result in greater alienation of the people from the rebels’ cause, and a loss of their mass base.
Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia August 29 - September 4, 2022
Civilians
Security Force Personnel
NS
Total
AFGHANISTAN
INDIA
Jammu and Kashmir
INDIA (Left-Wing Extremism)
Jharkhand
Telangana
India (Total)
PAKISTAN
Balochistan
KP
PAKISTAN (Total)
Total (South Asia)
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The South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR) is a weekly service that brings you regular data, assessments and news briefs on terrorism, insurgencies and sub-conventional warfare, on counter-terrorism responses and policies, as well as on related economic, political, and social issues, in the South Asian region.
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