Overview

Omar Khalid Khorasani was a senior leader of the U.S.-designated Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).“Abdul Wali,” Rewards for Justice, March 2018, https://rewardsforjustice.net/rewards/abdul-wali. The TTP is a Pakistan-based terror group that is the conglomerate of around 40 tribal and non-tribal Pakistani militant groups fighting against the state of Pakistan, Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), and U.S.-led coalition forces.Amira Jadoon, Allied & Lethal: Islamic State Khorasan’s Network and Organizational Capacity in Afghanistan and Pakistan (West Point, NY: Countering Terrorism Center, 2018), 35, https://ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Allied-Lethal-final.pdf; Amira Jadoon, The Evolution and Potential Resurgence of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2021), 6, https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2021-05/sr_494-the_evolution_and_potential_resurgence_of_the_tehrik_i_taliban_pakistan.pdf. On August 8, 2022, Khorasani was killed in an explosion in Paktika province, Afghanistan.Mushtaq Yusufzai and Jennifer Jett, “Pakistani militant leader with $3 million U.S. bounty killed in Afghanistan, sources say,” NBC News, August 9, 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pakistan-militant-leader-killed-afghanistan-rcna42155.

Khorasani was born in Mohmand Agency, Pakistan. He then went on to study at several madrasas in Karachi before becoming a journalist and poet.“Abdul Wali,” Rewards for Justice, March 2018, https://rewardsforjustice.net/rewards/abdul-wali. It is uncertain when Khorasani joined the TTP’s ranks, but in August 2014, infighting within the terror group led Khorasani to establish and lead Jamaat ul-Ahrar (JuA), a militant faction affiliated with TTP.“Abdul Wali,” Rewards for Justice, March 2018, https://rewardsforjustice.net/rewards/abdul-wali. JuA targeted civilians, religious minorities, military personnel, and law enforcement.“State Department Terrorist Designations of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Mohamed Abrini,” U.S. Department of State, August 3, 2016, https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2016/08/260790.htm. Despite continuing to operate separately from TTP, JuA realigned itself under the TTP network in March 2015.Animesh Roul, “Pakistan's Jamaat-ul-Ahrar: A Violent Domestic Threat,” Jamestown Foundation, September 16, 2016, https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dffc514.html.

Although Khorasani operated from Nangarhar and Kunar provinces in Afghanistan, JuA was one of the most active of TTP’s cells in Punjab Province, Pakistan, carrying out a series of deadly attacks, with the most violent attack occurring at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal amusement park in March 2016.Animesh Roul, “Pakistan's Jamaat-ul-Ahrar: A Violent Domestic Threat,” Jamestown Foundation, September 16, 2016, https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dffc514.html. The suicide attack took place during Easter and targeted Lahore’s Christian community, killing over 70 people and injuring hundreds more.“State Department Terrorist Designations of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Mohamed Abrini,” U.S. Department of State, August 3, 2016, https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2016/08/260790.htm. Given JuA’s activity and Khorasani’s role in the group, in August 2016, JuA was designated by the U.S. Department of State as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), and on March 2018, the U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program offered a reward of up to $3 million for information leading to the capture of Khorasani.“Abdul Wali,” Rewards for Justice, March 2018, https://rewardsforjustice.net/rewards/abdul-wali.

In May 2022, media sources reported that Khorasani began serving as one of the TTP’s negotiators in ceasefire talks with the Pakistani government.Pamela Constable, “Top Pakistani Taliban leader killed in Afghanistan; Shiites targeted in Kabul,” Washington Post, August 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/08/pakistan-taliban-leader-strike-afghanistan-shiite; Munir Ahmed, “Officials: Pakistani militant leader killed in Afghanistan,” ABC News, August 8, 2022, https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/officials-pakistani-militant-leader-killed-afghanistan-88091274. The peace talks were hosted by Afghan Taliban leaders in Kabul, Afghanistan. Overall, the TTP wanted Pakistani government forces to pull out of former tribal regions of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, sought the release of TTP fighters in government custody, and wanted the revocation of all legal cases against the terror group. However, in the long run, Islamabad wanted the TTP to disband and to sever its ties with ISIS’s cells in Afghanistan and Pakistan.Munir Ahmed, “Officials: Pakistani militant leader killed in Afghanistan,” ABC News, August 8, 2022, https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/officials-pakistani-militant-leader-killed-afghanistan-88091274.

On August 8, 2022, a roadside bomb detonated in Paktika province, eastern Afghanistan, killing Khorasani and three other TTP militants, including Hassan Ali, Mufti Hassan Swati, and Hafiz Daulat. The TTP claimed Pakistani intelligence agents were responsible for the explosion.Pamela Constable, “Top Pakistani Taliban leader killed in Afghanistan; Shiites targeted in Kabul,” Washington Post, August 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/08/pakistan-taliban-leader-strike-afghanistan-shiite; Munir Ahmed, “Officials: Pakistani militant leader killed in Afghanistan,” ABC News, August 8, 2022, https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/officials-pakistani-militant-leader-killed-afghanistan-88091274.