There are signs of cracks emerging in the Pakistani Taliban after one of their commanders claimed responsibility for the January 20 terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University.
Four gunmen stormed the university in the town of Charsadda, killing 21 people and wounding dozens others. Most of the dead were teachers and students.
“We will continue to attack schools, colleges and universities across Pakistan as they are the foundations that produce apostates,” a top commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said in a video message. “We will target and demolish the foundations,” said Khalifa Umar Mansoor, who is also believed to be the mastermind of the December 2014 attack that killed 132 children and nine staff of the Army Public School in Peshawar.
But the emir of the TTP, Mullah Fazlullah, condemned the attack, and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice in what he called Sharia courts. “The TTP strongly condemns the attack on Bacha Khan University. It is an un-Islamic act,” said an email sent out to reporters by his spokesman Muhammad Khurasani. He said young students were “future assets” and the outfit considers it their duty to protect them.
"We will continue to attack schools that produce apostates"
The initial claim of responsibility came though telephone calls to reporters before Fazlullah’s condemnation. After the emir’s statement, Khalifa Umar Mansoor released pictures and details of the attackers, as well as his video message. Standing amidst heavily armed militants and holding a gun in his left hand, he flouted his leader, warning of more such attacks.
Taliban militants destroyed about 400 schools between 2007 and 2011 in the Swat valley alone, according to Education Department records. But the group often denies they are responsible for these attacks. Khalifa Umar Mansoor is the first Taliban commander who openly threaten to attack schools and students. “After much consultation and many meetings, we have reached the decision to target schools, colleges and universities,” he said. “We have started the mission with the attack on BKU.”
He is the key commander of the TTP in Peshawar, Darra Adam Khel, and other towns nearby. “Umar is in an important position in the Fazlullah-led TTP, but the latter cannot afford to expel or punish him at a critical time when a number of other top commanders have already parted ways with him,” says journalist Salim Mehsud.
"Fazlullah's statement was political, Umar Mansoor's claim was military"
After Hakimullah Mehsud’s death in a US drone strike in November 2013, Mullah Fazlullah became the leader of the TTP. But he could not keep the group intact. In May 2014, a majority of Mehsud militants, led by Khan Said Sajna, separated from the TTP. Two months later, key Taliban leaders including Umar Khalid Khurasani – then leader of TTP in Mohmand Agency – and Sajjad Mohmand – former spokesman of the outfit – founded a new militant group Jamaatul Ahraar. In October 2014, five key members of TTP, including Hafiz Saeed Khan – then commander of the TTP in Orakzai Agency – joined the group that calls itself the Islamic State (IS) and swore allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The emergence of IS hurt the TTP further when a number low-ranking commanders and fighters from the Pakistani tribal areas joined the new group. “Umar Mansoor was assigned a greater role as other senior commanders left the Taliban,” Salim says.
A security official stands besides a bullet-ridden building after a gunfight during the BKU attack
All the major recent attacks by the Taliban are believed to be orchestrated by Khalifa Umar Mansoor. After the Army Public School carnage, he had issued a similar video showing the attackers preparing for the mission. Mansoor is also linked the attack on the Badaber air force base near Peshawar in September 2015, in which 29 people died.
Journalist Rasool Dawar said Fazlullah has been able to avoid media criticism with his condemnation of the BKU attack “for now”, but it seems unlikely that he would try Umar in a Sharia court. “Taking action against the powerful commander could lead to a revolt,” he said. “But if he does not take any action against him, it will indicate that he is losing authority over his men.”
Umar’s “Boko Haram style activities” will be very difficult for his leader to digest, Rasool Dawar believes.
Other experts say there are no differences between Fazlullah and Umar, and the BKU attack was carried out with the TTP emir’s consent. “Fazlullah’s statement was political, and Umar Mansoor’s claim of responsibility was military,” said a Peshawar-based journalist, who asked not to be named because of security concerns. The controversial video was released by the official Taliban propaganda website Umar Media. “It was a new video produced after the central TTP leader criticized the attack,” he said. “If Fazlullah was not on board, at least the message would not have been produced by Umar Media.”
Who is Khalifa Umar Mansoor?
Amongst his Taliban fellows, the long-haired militant with a flowing chest-length beard is known as Umar Naray, or Umar the Slim. Once a leader of TTP’s Geedar (Jackal) group operating in Peshawar, Darra Adam Khel and the surrounding towns, he became increasingly important to Mullah Fazlullah as other top commanders began to leave him in the last few years.
A volleyball enthusiast and a father of three, he is currently believed to be hiding across the border in Afghanistan. Locals say he crosses over to the tribal areas occasionally.
The Geedar Group of the Taliban was formed by Tariq Afridi Geedar, a close associate of the dead TTP ex-emir Hakimullah Mehsud. Following his killing in early 2013, Muhammad Arif Kaka was handed over the affairs of the group. There is no information on what happened to Kaka and under what circumstances Umar Mansoor took over from him.
He first made headlines when he claimed responsibility for the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in the December 2014. Reuters called him Pakistan’s most hated man. Umar Mansoor is believed to be behind all key Taliban attacks in Pakistan in the last year. He has now claimed the attack on the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, and threatens to carry out more such attacks.
