Pakistani Taliban Faction Threatens To Target India After Border Blast

A spokesperson for Jamaat-ul-ahrar, a recently formed splinter group of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed that he has warned Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the group is planning to carry out attacks in India, according to a report by Reuters. Jamaat-ul-ahrar is one of the groups that have claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack near the India-Pakistan border, which killed at least 60 people, including several Pakistani soldiers.

“If our suicide bombers can carry out attacks on this side of the border, they can easily do it on other side of the border in India,” Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesperson for the TTP splinter group, told Reuters. He also reiterated his earlier statements posted on Twitter, were he called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the “killer of hundreds of Muslims.”

“His hands are red with the blood of Kashmiri mujahideen and innocent people of Gujarat for which he would have to pay the price,” Ehsan told Reuters, referring to communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims in 2002 in the Indian state of Gujarat. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat when over 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the violence that reportedly continued for days.

Ehsan also added that unlike TTP’s “narrow focus,” his group has “a global agenda of jihad.”

Jamaat-ul-ahrar, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, split from TTP in August after denouncing its “narrow, personal objectives.” The group, along with Jundallah -- believed to be affiliated to al Qaeda and TTP -- claimed responsibility for Sunday’s suicide bombing.