Who staged Wagah suicide attack? 3 Pak Taliban factions claim hand

Rubbishing the claims of other terror outfits, former Tehreek-e-Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan has asserted that its Jamat-ul-Ahrar group was responsible for the deadly suicide attack at Wagah border crossing that killed at least 60 people.

New Delhi: In what shows militant outfits' avidity to flaunt their involvement in the deadly Wagah suicide attack, the responsibility for the blast has been claimed by not one but three militant factions, two of them being breakaway groups of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The terror factions claiming their roles in the attack are Jundullah (that broke away from TTP last year) Jamat-ul-Ahrar (announced in September this year) and a non-descripit Mahar Mehsud group.

The first group to have claimed the attack that killed at least 60 people, was anti-Shia group Jundullah (Soldiers of Allah), which is notorious for having carried attacks like 2004 attack on Karachi Corps Commander, September 2013 Peshawar church bombing, June 2013 murder of tourists in Gilgit–Baltistan, and February 2012 Kohistan Massacre.  

Ahmaed Marwat, the group's spokesperson, claimd the attack at Wagah border, saying it was in retribution to Pakistani Army's Operation Zarb-e-Azb. 

However, rubbishing the claims of Jundullah, former Tehreek-e-Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan has asserted that its Jamat-ul-Ahrar group was responsible for the deadly suicide attack at Wagah border crossing that killed at least 60 people.

To prove its group's involvement in the suicide attack, Ehsan also said that he would soon release the video of the attack that he said was carried out by a member of his group named Hafiz Hanifullah.

In a series of tweets, Ehsan sought to flaunt that it was his group Jamat-ul-Ahrar (meaning Group of the Free ones) that carried out the attack to send a bold "open message to governments on both sides of the border".

"Some other groups have claimed responsibility of this attack, but these claims are baseless. We will soon release the video of this attack," Ehsan claimed on Twitter.

Ehsan said that the attack was launched in revenge for the killing of innocent people in North Waziristan.

Ehsanullah Ehsan also mocked the claims of anti-Shia group Jundullah, terming it as a hypothetical Iranian Mujahideen group.

Ehsanullah Ehsan, former TTP spokesperson represents Jamat-ul-Ahrar, which broke away from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in August this year.

Jamat-ul-Ahrar is the second faction to have splintered from the TTP this year and comprises of former leaders of the Movement of Taliban in Pakistan.

The breaking away of factions indicate the differences cropping within Pak Taliban since Maulana Fazlullah was appointed TTP chief last year.

The suicide attack carried out at Wagah border crossing yesterday killed 60 people and injured over a hundred. The suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest while scores were returning after watching the flag-lowering 'beating retreat' ceremony.