Pakistani-Taliban Splits over 'Un-Islamic' Practices

BBC News reports the Mehsud faction has split from the Pakistani-Taliban over “un-Islamic” practices.

According to the BBC:

The rift comes after a month of infighting in which dozens of fighters from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed.

The powerful faction comprising militants from the Mehsud tribe – the core around which regional groups initially gravitated to form the TTP – said it was [now] forming its own separate group called Tehrik Taliban South Waziristan.

The new group already has a spokesman who says the split is chiefly due to TTP practices which the Mehsuds viewed as “contrary to Islam.”

With the exit of the Mehsuds, the TTP will have to rely “on the Swat and Mohmand factions… in north-eastern Afghanistan.” This shift puts the Taliban further back into areas where “they have largely been beaten” to this point.

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