ISIS member arrested in Peshawar

Sent on five-day remand for interrogation, according to investigation officer

A member of the terrorist organisation Islamic State was presented before the Anti-Terrorism Court on Friday, following his arrest by the Counter-Terrorism Department.

Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Fareed Khan Alizai granted a five-day physical remand of the accused, Tufail, to the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) for further questioning. According to the investigation officer, Tufail is linked to the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP) and has been involved in terrorist activities across various regions, including Peshawar.

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The accused was apprehended on Thursday, with the CTD requesting the remand for detailed interrogation.

The ISKP was officially formed in 2015 when breakaway militants from the Tehrik‑e‑Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Al Qaeda and former Taliban fighters from Afghanistan came together under Hafiz Saeed Khan, a Pakistani militant with ties to the TTP. The name “Khorasan” refers to a historical region that spans parts of Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, reflecting the group’s ambition to carve out a caliphate in the Afghan‑Pakistan borderlands.

ISKP’s core operations have been centred in eastern Afghanistan, but it maintains networks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Peshawar. It is estimated that ISKP has between 4,000 and 6,000 members. In 2022, ISKP attacked a Shia mosque in Peshawar, killing 63 and injuring 196, and in July 2023, ISKP also detonated a suicide bomb at a political rally in Khar, Bajaur, killing at least 63 and injuring about 200.

In February 2025, a suicide blast at the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in Nowshera that killed at least eight people and injured around 20 others has been attributed to ISKP.