Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan, the Group Behind the Latest Attack on Air Force Base in Pakistan Explained

A Pakistani training airbase in Punjab province was attacked by nine heavily armed terrorists on Saturday damaging three phased-out, non-operational aircraft.

The Pakistani army later said that all of the terrorists targeting the Pakistan Air Force’s Mianwali Training Air Base were killed by the army. It added that no damage had been done to the training base, located around 300 km from Lahore.

The Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), a newly emerged militant group and an affiliate of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has claimed responsibility for the attack. The recent attack comes after two separate attacks on security forces in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region last week.

Here is all you need to know about the militant group Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan:

All About Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan

The Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan is a relatively new militant group that announced its formation in February this year. Shortly after its formation, a terrorist affiliated with the group carried out an attack in Balochistan, killing one serviceman and injuring another. The group is believed to be mainly active in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

During Saturday’s attack, the terrorists climbed the fenced walls using ladders to enter the high-security air base located in Punjab province, Reuters reported. Videos of an alleged burning Pakistani military aircraft were making the rounds on social media.

The Pakistani army however claimed that they killed three terrorists “even before they could enter the base,” and arrested three other terrorists.

The little-known group has carried out a string of high-profile attacks, including one that killed 12 soldiers in Balochistan province earlier in July and a suicide attack in which three soldiers in northwestern Pakistan reportedly lost their lives.

The insignia of TJP shows a book over a ‘rehal’, which is used for keeping religious books and an incorrect map of Pakistan showing the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir inside Pakistan.

Why it was Founded?

The group was founded with the intention of waging ‘holy war’ or jihad against Pakistan in order to turn it into an Islamic state and impose sharia law similar to what the Taliban did in Afghanistan.

According to a report in Firstpost, Maulana Abdullah Yaghistani is the leader of the group while Mullah Muhammad Qasim is the spokesperson. Though little is known about the group and its founders, reports said Maulana Abdullah Yaghistani attended Jamia Farooqia, a well-known Deobandi seminary in Karachi. It also claimed that until the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, he fought alongside NATO and American forces in the country.

In a statement in February this year, the group reportedly outlined its goals mentioning “Sheikh-ul-Hind” as an inspiration for its jihadi ideology. Sheikh-ul-Hind refers to Maulana Mahmud Hasan Deobandi, an Indian freedom fighter and prominent cleric who was also the third principal of the Darul Uloom Deoband, located in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

According to the group’s spokesperson Mullah Qasim, “after achieving success in Afghanistan, we have extended our struggle into Pakistan” and the group’s struggle is for “the continuation of the Silk Letter Movement.”

Experts believe that TJP has ties to its parent organization Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. However, militants from Balochistan have refrained from uniting with the TTP, considering them unreliable allies.

Attacks claimed by the group

In March, nine security personnel were killed and 13 others were injured in Quetta, Balochistan when a suicide bomber drove his motorbike into a security vehicle.

In May this year, six militants and seven soldiers were killed in an attack by TJP on a military compound in the Muslim Bagh district of Balochistan.

On July 12, nine Pakistani army soldiers and five militants were killed after security forces retaliated for a “dastardly attack” on the Zhob garrison in Balochistan. TJP claimed responsibility for the attack.