ISIS-K assassination of Pakistani politician fuels fears of regional instability

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."