TTP Spokesperson Denies Mansoor’s Claim of Bacha University Attack

TTP Spokesperson contradicts TTP commander’s statement claiming responsibility of attack on Bacha Khan University.

A Pakistani soldier takes aim outside the Bacha Khan university in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan on Wednesday, 20 January 2016. (Photo: IANS)

The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Geedar leader Umar Mansoor and spokesperson Muhammad Khorasani have issued contradicting statements about the attack on Bach Khan university in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan on Wednesday.

The TTP commander Umar Mansoor, on Wednesday, claimed responsibility of the Bacha Khan University attack – in which 29 are feared dead – through a Facebook post.

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Coffin of a victim of the shooting at the Bacha Khan University of Pakistan on 20 January 2016. (Photo: AP)

However, the spokesperson of the banned terror group condemned the attack and denied the responsibility of the attack on behalf of TTP.

<p>The TTP and its amir Maulana Fazaulllah have nothing to do with the attack. Those people who used the name of the Taliban in the attack will be tried in sharia courts.<br></p>

<a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/1030974/ttp-mullah-fazlullah-not-behind-bacha-khan-university-attack-khorasani/">Excerpt from TTP Spokesperson Muhammad Khorasani’s Email</a>

According to a report by Dawn, the mastermind of 2014 attack on a public school in Peshawar, Mansoor claimed that four TTP attackers were sent to the university.

The written statement by spokesman Muhammad Khorasani came hours after a senior Taliban commander said four of his fighters launched the assault.

In the statement, Khorasani has said that TTP considers the non-military school children as the future, according to a report by The Express Tribune.

The reason for the conflicting statements is not clear.

(With agency inputs.)