Taliban issues threat to Modi as Wagah terror toll mounts

The Taliban has reacted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's condemnation of its dastardly attack on the India-Pakistan border with a life threat. Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesperson of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamat-Ul- Ahrar (TTPJA), a splinter group of Pakistan Taliban, issued the open threat to Narendra Modi.

Modi had on Sunday condemned the terror strike that killed over 60 and maimed hundreds on the Pakistan side of the Wagah Border, which he called a dastardly attack of terrorism.

"Terror attack in Pakistan near Wagah Border is shocking. I strongly condemn such a dastardly act of terrorism. My condolences to the families of the deceased. Prayers with the injured," the prime minister had said.

A message from Ehsanullah Ehsan @narendramodi @RabiaAnumm read: ''You are the killer of hundreds of Muslims. We wl take the revenge of innocent people of Kashmir amd Gugrat.''

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar is a splinter group of the Taliban in Pakistan set up in August 2014. TTPJA is led by former commanders of the Tehrik-E-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) such as Ehsanullah Ehsan, who was the former spokesman of the parent group and Omar Khorasani, a senior leader.

While the splinter group says its objective is the creation of an Islamic state, the group comprising four of the seven tribal districts bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, namely Mohmand, Bajaur, Khyber, and Arakzai has been targeting Muslims for want of other targets.

The group, comprising mostly tribals, is not interested in development and progress and is incapable of seeing others progress. However, the Pakistan government and its powerful military bosses have been meek witnesses to their heinous acts as can be seen from the violence across Pakistan.

A day after the country's deadliest bombing in more than a year killed 61 people, Pakistan was on high alert on Monday for the mourning processions of Ashura, a flashpoint for sectarian violence.

The explosion caused by a suicide bomber at the Wagah border crossing on Sunday caused carnage and forced the colourful daily ceremony at the Wagah frontier post, near Lahore to be suspended for the next three days.

The Wagah ceremony is a major tourist attractions, drawing people from all walks of life on both side of the border.

The explosion in Punjab, Pakistan's richest and most populous province and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's powerbase – claimed by two splinter groups of the Taliban - is also seen by analysts as a warning to Sharif.

Security forces across Pakistan were bracing on Monday for possible attacks as Shiite Muslims mark Ashura, the anniversary of the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

Thousands of minority Shiites will take out mourning processions.

Around 10,000 police and paramilitary Rangers have been deployed in Islamabad and its twin city Rawalpindi, officials said, and some mobile phone services have been shut down as authorities try to stop militants using mobile phones to detonate bombs.