US names anti-Pakistan groups ‘terrorist’ organizations

The United States has added a key anti-Pakistani militant group and its al-Qaida branch to its list of “global terrorists,” triggering sanctions against the groups amid a resurgence of militant violence in this Islamic nation.
Both groups operate from Afghanistan, but they have hideouts in Pakistan’s former tribal regions in the northwest and elsewhere as well.
Thursday’s move by the State Department comes days after the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, known as TTP, ended a monthslong ceasefire with Pakistan and resumed attacks across the country.
The threat issued by the TTP forced Pakistani authorities to take additional measures, and security was tight on orders from the Interior Ministry outside worship and other public places Friday amid fears of more attacks. TTP has asked its fighters to target security forces across the country. Pakistani Taliban were behind the 2014 attack on a Peshawar school that killed 147 people, mostly schoolchildren.
The State Department said Thursday it has designated TTP and al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”