Alternative Names:
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Jamatul Ahrar, TTPJA, Jamaat-e-Ahrar, Jamaatul Ahrar, JuA, The Freedom Fighters Group
Location:
Pakistan (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), Afghanistan
Leadership:
JuA was found and lead by Omar Khalid Khorasani, a senior leader of the Taliban in Pakistan. Khorasani belongs to the Safi tribe of Mohmand Agency. In August 2014, Khorasani formed JuA as a splinter group of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and claimed that he would no longer recognize or take orders from the TTP leadership. In March 2015, Khorasani announced his intention to rejoin the Pakistani Taliban.
Membership:
JuA’s membership consisted of former TTP supporters and new recruits from Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Khorasani also sheltered hundreds of Arab, Uzbek, and Uyghur al-Qaeda militants.
Funding Sources:
Khorasani has strong links to al-Qaeda, from which his group may have derived funding and material support.
Origins:
JuA formed as a splinter group of the TTP.
Major Attacks:
November 2014: JuA carried out twin bombings, which killed at least six people in the Mohmand Agency, a region within Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
March 2015: JuA carried out twin bombings at a Roman Catholic church in Lahore, Pakistan, which killed 15 people and injured roughly 70 others.
Ideological Roots:
JuA traces its ideological roots to Deobandi fundamentalism within Sunni Islam.
Objectives:
JuA seeks the creation of an Islamic caliphate under Sharia law.
Tactics:
Low-intensity bomb attacks, firearm attacks.
Updated on January 13, 2016.
