n September 29, two blasts claimed dozens of lives in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.

In Balochistan’s Mastung district, at least 60 people were killed while dozens were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up during a religious procession. According to eyewitnesses, over 500 people had gathered to participate in the rally, which was being held on Mastung’s Medina Road. The explosion occurred near a mosque on the same road.

While the country had still to recover from the devastation and loss of lives caused by the Balochistan blast, another incident was reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where two suicide bombers driving a car loaded with explosives targeted a mosque within the Doaba Police Lines in the Hangu district. According to police, the attack killed five people and left many individuals with injuries.

The security officers stationed at the mosque’s checkpoint acted bravely and stopped the bomber. Their quick response provided time for the people who had gathered in the mosque for the Friday sermon to leave the area.

Although no militant group initially claimed responsibility for the attacks, the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan was suspected. The TTP had broken a fragile truce with the administration in Islamabad last November and vowed to intensify attacks against security forces.

In a surprise move, however, the militant outfit denied involvement in either of the attacks. It even issued a statement condemning them.

With the TTP distancing itself from the attacks, the focus shifted to the Islamic State of Khorasan Province as a potential suspect. Several social media accounts allegedly linked to ISKP were observed monitoring the increasing casualties in Mastung and even celebrating the attack.

The TTP has demonstrated a change in their tactics since 2018, refraining from indiscriminate targeting of public gatherings and maintaining stricter controls on suicide attacks.

On the contrary, groups like the ISKP and the Islamic State of Pakistan Province have shown a strong inclination toward advocating for such attacks. They seek to inflict mass casualties while using a minimum number of militants in their operations.

In terms of the Hangu attack, there are two possible scenarios to consider. The first one revolves around the possibility that Jamaat-ul Ahrar (JuA), a major faction of the TTP, may have orchestrated the attack independently. This suspicion is based on the fact that the JuA had carried out a similar attack earlier in the year in Peshawar, targeting a mosque within a police line, mirroring the circumstances in Hangu.

The JuA had also claimed responsibility for blowing up a mosque in KP’s Khyber district, where the group’s suicide bombers had been hiding. Although the faction distanced itself from the attack, it remains plausible that it might have carried out the operation without the approval of the central TTP leadership.

It is also possible that the attack may have been carried out by a new group known as Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan, which is alleged to be affiliated with the TTP.

Groups like the ISKP and the Islamic State of Pakistan Province have shown a strong inclination towards advocating for such attacks. They seek to inflict mass casualties while involving a minimum number of militants in their operations.

The ISKP also remains a suspect in these attacks. While Hangu falls outside of their usual operational area, the group could have formed tactical alliances with foot soldiers from the TTP and local facilitators who seek to carry out attacks in the region.

Talking to The News on Sunday, Counter Terrorism Department Additional IG Shaukat Abbas said: “We are still investigating the event. We will soon share the details with the public and the authorities.”

Following the attacks, Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir visited Quetta and was briefed about the attacks. “These terrorists and their facilitators, having no link with religion and ideology, are proxies of the enemies of Pakistan and its people. These forces of evil will continue to face the full might of the state and security forces backed by a resilient nation.”

The army chief said the military’s operation against terrorists would continue unabated and the security forces, intelligence and law enforcement agencies “shall not rest till the menace of terrorism is rooted out from the country.”

He said that the people had “rejected terrorists’ pseudo ideology and propaganda of their backers” and were fully committed to peace, economic progress and human development, noting that this “indeed is causing a lot of distress to forces of evil in and outside of Pakistan.”

On October 3, the apex committee of Pakistan’s National Action Plan, chaired by Prime Minister Anwaar-ul Haq Kakar, made some stern decisions to expel illegal foreigners residing in the country. The committee also decided to constitute a task force under the Ministry of Interior to scrutinise the fake identities and illegal business activities.

After the meeting, Minister for Interior Sarfaraz Bugti told the media that since January 2023, a total of 24 suicide attacks had taken place in Pakistan, out of which 14 were carried out by Afghan nationals.

“We have evidence of Afghan citizens’ involvement in the attacks happening in Pakistan,” said Bugti.

He also noted that the Pakistani government had set November 1 as the deadline for Afghan immigrants living illegally in Pakistan to voluntarily depart from the country. After this date, they would face the possibility of being forcibly expelled, he said.

In another major development for the official structure related to Afghan refugees, the government decided to place the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees under the Home and Tribal Affairs Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rather than under the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions.

Responding to Pakistan’s decision to deport Afghan refugees and changing the governance body overseeing their status, Afghan Taliban’s spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that the behavior of Pakistani authorities was “unacceptable.”

“The Pakistani side should reconsider its plan. Afghan refugees are not involved in Pakistan’s security problems,” Mujahid wrote on the X messaging platform, formerly known as Twitter.

“As long as they [the refugees] leave Pakistan voluntarily, that country should tolerate them.”

The writer is the editor of The Khorasan Diary.

He can be reached on Twitter @iftikharfirdous