Who they are

The Tariq Geedar Group is a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that is being led by Umar ‘Naray’ Mansoor. Mansoor is a senior lieutenant who served under the Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah. The group is based in Darra Adam Khel and Peshawar, and has been involved in a number of deadly and violent attacks against the Pakistani state, civilians and minorities[8]. Prior to Mansoor’s leadership, the Darra Adamkhel faction of the TTP was being led by Tariq ‘Geedar’ Afridi and his associate Muhammad Arif ‘Kaka’. Tariq Afridi was killed in the August 2012[9].

The group’s bloodiest assault is the Army Public School (APS) carnage in Peshawar that killed 148 people, including 132 children. The group’s leader is alleged to have given the gunmen instructions from a call that was traced to Afghanistan’s Naziyan District in Nangarhar province. As a result of Pakistan army’s retaliatory counter-terrorism measures, it was reported in 20^th December 2014 that the group’s leader Umar Mansoor had been killed in an airstrike in the Khyber tribal regions along with 20 other militants[10].

On 13th February 2015, a Shia mosque was attacked by a group of suicide bombers during Friday prayers in Hayatabad in Peshawar. The attack killed 20 people and injured another 30. Sources within the security establishment stated that ‘there is sufficient evidence to believe that the Hayatabad Mosque butchery was masterminded by Commander Umar Mansoor, who not only heads TTP’s Darra Adam Khel chapter but also Tariq Geedar group, and continues to operate from across the border in Afghanistan[11]’. According to a statement by the DG-ISPR, Mansoor might be operating from Afghanistan[12].

History

The exact origins of the faction remain obscure. It was initially led by one Tariq ‘Geedar’, and was based in Darra Adam Khel. It subsequently came to be known as the ‘Tariq Geedar Group’.

The group’s name first attracted media attention during the attack on a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) airplane (flight PK-756) at the Peshawar airport in June 2014. The group attacked the plane while it was landing at the Bacha Khan International Airport. The attack was launched from the top of the roof of a school nearby. Resultantly, one female passenger was killed and three crew members were injured[13]. Earlier, on 17^th March 2014, the group had also targeted the Peshawar District Courts. According to the Wall Street Journal, the group was also responsible for the kidnapping and beheading of The Polish engineer Piotr Stanczak in the year 2009[14].

Organization’s Message

Statements from the group have warned that the attacks are a part of a ‘series that will draw blood for blood’. The group’s brutal assaults are portrayed as retaliation against the Pakistani Army’s ongoing operation ‘Zarb-e-Azab’ in Waziristan. The group is strictly pro-Jihad.

After the Army Public School (APS) attack in Peshawar, the group posted a video on one of the websites used by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In it, Umar Mansoor had the following message to convey to Pakistan’s military forces and the security establishment: ‘If our women and children die as martyrs, your children will not escape. We will fight against you in such a style that you attack us and we will take revenge on innocents[15]’. This video is currently not available online.

Target Audience

Not available.

Tools

Not available.

Splinter Groups

No information is available about any further splinter groups.

Annexure

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan

It is a South Waziristan (Pakistan) based conglomerate of various militant outfits. It demands Pakistan state’s disassociation from the coalition for war on terror.[16]

The Army Public School (APS) Massacre

A terrorist attack that took place on 16^th December 2014 in Peshawar in which seven gunmen affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) entered a school and opened fire, killing 148 people including 132 children.

Operation Zarb-e-Azb

A military offensive that is being conducted by the Pakistan Armed Forces against a number of militant groups operating within Pakistan and its North Western border areas. The operation was launched on 15^th June 2014.