Peshawar: A video statement that has circulated on social media shows an Afghan national identifying himself as Sattore (Sattoreh) Khogiyana confessing that he entered Pakistan on orders from a commander of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to carry out terror attacks.
In the recording, the man who says he is from Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan tells viewers he met a TTP commander named Qari Muhammad in Kabul and pledged allegiance. He says he travelled to Pakistan for medical treatment at the commander’s direction and was later instructed to enrol at a madrassa in Peshawar as part of preparations for violent activity.
“I took the oath on Qari Muhammad’s hand,” the man says in the video. “On his orders I came to Peshawar for treatment. After treatment I was told to register at a madrassa in Peshawar. Qari Muhammad ordered me to plan attacks on law-enforcement agencies and carry out target killings.” The recording also claims he was assigned from Kabul to target a religious scholar.
According to media reports and law-enforcement officials, the detainee who describes himself as having completed intermediate studies at Government College Hazrat Khan in Nangarhar, a bachelor’s degree in Islamic jurisprudence from Ghazni University and service as a teacher at the Abdullah bin Zubair seminary in Kabul was arrested several days ago in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while moving near a sensitive site.
TTP Planning to Sabotage Peace
Security sources told reporters that preliminary investigations indicate the arrested man was part of a TTP-linked network allegedly operating from Afghanistan and facilitating militant operations inside Pakistan. Authorities say interrogations are continuing and intelligence teams have intensified raids to trace facilitators and associates inside the country.
A senior security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the probe is ongoing, described the arrest and the confession video as “another example of cross-border terrorist activity emanating from Afghan soil” and said Pakistan remains “determined to foil any attempt to undermine national security.”
The TTP is a proscribed militant organisation in Pakistan responsible for multiple high-profile attacks over the past decade; the group has repeatedly been accused by Pakistani authorities of using safe havens across the border to plan and direct operations.
National and regional security analysts say such arrests if confirmed by independent evidence highlight the persistent challenge of militant networks that operate transnationally and exploit porous border areas. Pakistani intelligence officials say they will share further details as the investigation yields additional findings.
