US designates TTP chief as global terrorist

Washington, Jan 14: The US State Department on Tuesday designated Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Maulana Fazlullah as a "specially designated global terrorist."

The consequences of this designation include a prohibition against US persons engaging in transactions with Fazlullah, and the freezing of all his properties and interests that are in the country, or come within its territory or in the possession or control of its citizen, the statement said.

Fazlullah was elected commander of TTP in November 2013, following the death of its former leader Hakimullah Mehsud.

The department designated the terror group as a foreign terrorist organisation and a specially designated global terrorist Sep 1, 2010. TTP was also listed at the United Nations 1267/1989 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee July 29, 2011.

Under the leadership of Flullah, the terror group claimed responsibility for the Dec 16, 2014 attack on a school in Peshawar, Pakistan that claimed the lives of at least 148 individuals, mostly students.

Prior to becoming the leader of TTP, Fazlullah claimed he was behind the killing of Pakistani Army Maj. Gen. Sanaullah Niazi in September 2013, as well as ordering the shooting of Nobel prize laureate and activist Malala Yousafzai in 2012.

Fazullah was responsible for the beheading of 17 Pakistani soldiers after an attack in June 2012 and also ordered the targeted killings of elders who led peace committees against the Taliban, the statement said.

IANS