TTP joins hands with Lashkar-i-Islam

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's main terrorist outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan today joined hands with outlawed Lashkar-e-Islam in the country's northwest to confront the military, which has launched an all-out campaign against militants holed-up in the tribal region.

The TTP said its fighters would support Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) in Khyber district against the military operation named Khyber-I, launched in October.

"We have instructed our armed mujahideen to join the fight along (with) the Lashkar," the TTP said in a statement.

Khyber is among Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal districts near the Afghan border, hit by homegrown insurgents and foreign militants.

It is also home to several religious extremist outfits including the Al-Qaeda.

Khyber, which links several agencies serving as a north-south route within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, has been long fought over by militant organisations, including the TTP, LI and Ansarul Islam.

Formed in 2007, the TTP was a formidable alliance of over a dozen groups but it has been recently weakened after defections and military operations.