Taliban spokesperson disowns Pakistan university attack
Pakistani troops clear way for an ambulance transporting a lifeless body of a victim from Bacha Khan University in Charsadda town, some 35 kilometers outside the city of Peshawar, Pakistan, on Jan. 20. AP
CHARSADDA, Pakistan—A spokesperson for the main Taliban faction in Pakistan has disowned the group behind a deadly attack on a university in a northwestern town near the city of Peshawar that killed 20 people.
The spokesperson, Mohammad Khurasani, says Wednesday’s attack was “un-Islamic” and insists the Pakistani Taliban were not behind it. Such statements from among the Taliban are not uncommon since the group has many loosely linked factions.
Khurasani, who also denied earlier reports that he had endorsed the Taliban claim by militant leader Khalifa Umar Mansoor, says that those who carry out such attacks should be tried before an Islamic, or Sharia court.
Khurasani says that the Taliban “consider the students in the nonmilitary institutions the future of our jihad movement” and would not kill our potential future followers.
He also says Mullah Fazlullah, the head of the Pakistani Taliban had nothing to do with the attack.
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