![Mourners carry Jamaat-e-Islami local leader Sufi Hameed's body on November 14. ISIS-K assassinated Hameed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Bajaur district. [AFP]](/cnmi_st/images/2024/11/27/48273-isis-k-pakistan-739_416.webp)
KABUL – The recent assassination of a local political party leader in Pakistan has intensified concerns about the expanding operations of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria's Khorasan branch (ISIS-K) in Afghanistan and Pakistan, analysts said.
Jamaat-e-Islami local chapter general-secretary Sufi Hameed was killed November 14 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Bajaur district, near the Afghan border.
"Hameed was leaving the mosque after sunset prayers when two masked men on a motorcycle opened fire on him," said senior local police official Waqar Rafiq.
The attackers fled the scene, he said.
ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the assassination in a statement on Telegram, referring to Hameed as an "official of the apostate political party,” AFP reported.
The assassination is part of ISIS-K's escalating campaign of violence in the region.
"In this year alone, they have killed at least 39 people in targeted attacks and bomb explosions" in the district, a senior local security official told AFP.
The group's recent attacks include a July suicide bombing at a Bajaur rally that killed at least 54 people, including 23 children.
ISIS-K also claimed responsibility for a November 23 improvised explosive device (IED) attack that killed a policeman in Bajaur and a gun attack that killed 10 at a Sufi shrine in Afghanistan's Baghlan province, according to AFP.
Regional security threat
"ISIS-K is trying to sow fear by assassinating influential figures and launching deadly attacks on civilians to boost its influence in both Afghanistan and Pakistan," said retired Afghan army colonel Mohammad Haleem Zaheen.
Zaheen, who is based in Herat city, pointed to Afghanistan's "security vacuum" and "the presence of more than 20 terrorist groups" as factors creating favorable conditions for ISIS-K's growth.
"Not just ISIS-K, but other terrorist groups also pose a significant threat to Afghanistan’s security," he told Salaam Times.
ISIS-K's attacks have deliberately stoked tensions between Afghanistan and its neighbors, including Pakistan and Tajikistan.
According to a report published in Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, ISIS-K employs a strategy of recruiting fighters from one country, using another as a safe haven, and a third as a transit route for attacks.
This tactic has fueled mistrust and accusations among regional governments.
Afghanistan risks becoming a hub for international terrorism again, Zaheen warned, unless the global community takes coordinated and decisive action to contain "the rise of terror."
We do not know who killed this man. Every human being has the right to live. He should not have been killed. One thing is that most of the killings are carried out by Pakistani intelligence and then the armed groups are blamed for. In fact, most of these armed groups have been formed by the country's intelligence agencies. I would like to convey an important point to the international community, especially the United States through Salaam Times, to pay attention to the sensitivity of the time. After the collapse of the inhumane regime in Syria and weakening of Russia, now must prevent a major storm in our region. One of the things that the Western world believes in is Pakistan. Even though Pakistan committed the utmost cruelty against Afghanistan and the world during the 20-year period of the Afghan Republic and killed many Afghan and foreign soldiers, no punishment has been given to the hypocrite army and its intelligence agency of that country. If the world has got free from the problem of Russia and Syria, it should support operations in different regions of Baluchistan and Pakhtunistan as soon as possible. Pakistan has had enmity with the Pashtuns and Baloch since its establishment and the people hate it. The international community should not waste even a single day and this enemy of humanity should be overthrown by force like the regime of Bashar al-Assad as soon as possible. With each passing day and hour, the possibility becomes stronger that China, which has opened it
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Write not about the border of Afghanistan but the Durand Line. The so-called Durand Line is not the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The border of Afghanistan is in Attock or in Margalla. The Durand Line was drawn as a result of British coercion over the Afghans, and it was imposed forcefully. This means that Afghanistan has neither recognized the Durand Line, nor will it ever recognize it. On October 11, over half a million people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas, gathered under the banner of the PTM, rejected the Durand Line. Another issue is the killings of elders and ordinary people in the regions of Pashtunkhwa and the tribal areas, which are carried out by the Pakistani military. In the region, the Pakistani army is the largest terrorist entity.
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Greetings to you, may God's mercy and blessings be upon you. Peace be upon the sacred souls of the martyrs of truth and Islam. May their martyrdom be blessed. I wish patience to their families.
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