TTP revives suicide bombings in Pakistan with car bomb attack; Taliban denies link

File image of TTP militants used for representational purpose.

A powerful explosion tore through Pakistan’s North Waziristan on Thursday, targeting security forces in the volatile Mir Ali area, CNN-News18 reported. The attack came barely a day after Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud appeared in a video message, in what officials fear may signal the beginning of a new phase of the group’s insurgency.

According to top Taliban sources quoted by CNN-News18, the TTP deployed a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), a tactic commonly used in Middle Eastern war zones but rarely seen in recent years in Pakistan. The shift indicates a move toward high-casualty, morale-crushing assaults intended to destabilise the state rather than seize territory.

Analysts told CNN-News18 that the use of a VBIED represents a “strategic escalation” that exposes Islamabad’s deepening security failures. Once hailed as a “pacified zone” after years of military operations, the Mir Ali–Datta Khel belt is again becoming a hub of militant activity. “The Pakistani state’s inability to sustain control over its own tribal districts shows how fragile its counterterror gains truly were,” one regional security analyst said.

Taliban sources also confirmed that the revival of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group under the TTP umbrella is fueling this resurgence. The faction, long entrenched in North Waziristan, is believed to have retained strong logistical and intelligence networks that are now being used to stage attacks inside Pakistan. “This consolidation shows that militant command structures have become increasingly coordinated across both sides of the border,” CNN-News18 quoted a senior Afghan security source as saying.

Kabul, meanwhile, has distanced itself from any link to the TTP’s activities. “We categorically deny any role or support for the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group or TTP activities inside Pakistan,” a top Taliban source told CNN-News18. The official described Islamabad’s accusations as “political scapegoating meant to divert attention from its own internal intelligence lapses.”

The Taliban reiterated that the TTP acts autonomously, without any backing from Afghanistan’s leadership. “Afghan soil is not being used for cross-border terrorism,” the source said, while accusing Pakistan of launching “provocative airstrikes in Khost, Paktika, and Kunar provinces.” Taliban officials warned that such actions are “fueling hostility and radical recruitment within TTP ranks.”

As tensions mount, Afghan Defence Minister Mullah Yaqub is in Qatar for talks, sources confirmed to CNN-News18. The visit reportedly follows Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s request for dialogue aimed at reducing border clashes and reopening communication between Islamabad and Kabul.

Analysts believe the Taliban’s tone reflects a broader shift in regional dynamics: Pakistan’s traditional leverage over the Afghan regime has sharply diminished. What once served as Islamabad’s proxy force is now striking back, both militarily and politically, leaving Pakistan facing a homegrown insurgency of its own making.