ISIS-K Claims Responsibility For Assassination Of Islamist Politician In Pakistan

ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the assassination of Sufi Hameed, a prominent politician of Pakistan's Jamaat-e-Islami party.

The politician was killed on Thursday (November 14) in a gun battle near the Afghan border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

In a statement posted on Telegram on Friday, ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the attack and stressed on the continuation of the attacks.

ISIS-K has continuously attacked political parties and even Islamist parties in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other countries in the region.

According to local police, Sufi Hameed, the regional head of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was leaving a mosque in his neighbourhood when two armed men on a motorcycle attacked and shot at him.

Police also announced that the attackers managed to escape and that investigations are ongoing in the incident. It has been said that some residents of the area tried to take Sufi Hameed to the hospital, but he died on the way.

In the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamist and separatist groups frequently attack Pakistani security forces and government officials.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is one of the groups that has challenged the security of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Islamabad has always accused the Afghan Taliban of cooperating with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and providing sanctuary to the group. Pakistani officials say that the TTP received its military training in Afghanistan and follows the same ideology as the Kabul Taliban. A claim denied by the Afghan Taliban.

However, Pakistani security officials have said that in the area where the political leader was assassinated, ISIS is "more active" than the Pakistani Taliban.