TTP militant threatens attacks on European embassies in India, Pak, Bangladesh

A key militant commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Punjab (TTP), which is also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan where relevant, has urged Muslim youth to attack European embassies across the world, including those located in India, Pakistan and Bangaldesh.

According to a report of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMR), a leading Washington-based research institute that specialises in translating and monitoring jihadi media networks operating in local languages and through social media, Maulana Asmatullah Muawiya has called on Muslim youth to replicate the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.

Muawiya's threat has been made through a a high-definition video released by Umar Media, which according to the MEMR is the broadcasting arm of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is headed by Hakimullah Mehsud.

The MEMR report further reveals that Umar Media released Muawiya's video through its Facebook account. Umar Media is controlled by a faction of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is led by Maulana Fazlullah of Swat/Malala Yousufzai fame. He is supposed to be hiding somewhere in Afghanistan.

The exact timing of the video is not clear.

Muawiya, it maybe recalled, forced Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to postpone the scheduled hanging of three top militants in mid-August.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Punjab (TTP) contains a mix of militants from Pakistani Taliban and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), among others.

A transalation of Muawiya's threat says that he calls on Muslim youth to make the "youth of Benghazi your ideal".

"Just as they assaulted and destroyed the American Embassy (in Benghazi), destroy the embassies of Europe. Destroy all their embassies on the soil of Pakistan, on the soil of India, on the soil of Bangladesh, on the soil of the Arabian Peninsula. Do not sit in peace until these white and black infidels, the enemies of our Prophet [Muhammad] are present in your lands....," he adds.

According to MEMR, Pakistan was scheduled to execute three top militants on August 20, 21, and 22, but the threat issued by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Punjab under the signature of Maulana Asmatullah Muawiya, which said that the executions would be seen as a declaration of war, stopped the government from going ahead with it.

According to a media report, the three terrorists who were scheduled to be executed are: Attaullah, Mohammad Azam and Jalal. All three are said to be affiliated to the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), the military wing of the SSP.