Major faction splits from Pakistani Taliban.

AuthorKhan, Ismail
PositionNews

Byline: Ismail Khan and Declan Walsh

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Seven years into a bloody campaign to overthrow the Pakistani state, the Pakistani Taliban split in two Wednesday when a major faction publicly rejected the movement's leader, Maulana Fazlullah, and said it would continue the fight on its own.

The breakaway group, led by the militant commander known as Sajna, said in a statement that it was leaving because "the present leadership has lost its path,'' and it went on to accuse Fazlullah of falling under the influence of foreign intelligence agencies.

The split comes after months of infighting within the Pakistani Taliban, which has killed thousands of Pakistanis in suicide attacks since the group was founded in December 2007. It is likely to shake the web of operational and fundraising alliances that have made North Waziristan, a tribal area along the Afghan border, such a formidable hub of international Islamist militancy.

And it spells a probable end, at least for now, to efforts by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to end the Taliban insurgency through negotiation. A tentative peace process that started in February had already ground to a halt amid tensions with the military leadership over how best to proceed. A series of airstrikes last week against militant targets in North Waziristan, which killed at least 80 people, suggested the military had lost patience with talks.

Now, with the very public Taliban split, Pakistani intelligence and security officials who have been quietly trying to sow divisions among the militants have cause for celebration. "The split will have a far-reaching impact, in Waziristan and elsewhere,'' said a senior security official in Peshawar, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

More broadly, the schism is the most significant sign yet that militants may be struggling with strategic differences about how to proceed both in the Afghan war, where U.S. troops are withdrawing, and in the struggle...

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