The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed the attack on the PAF Badaber base in Peshawar on September 18 in a video that lasted over five minutes and which also showed the banned group’s Darra Adamkhel commander Umar Mansoor seeing off a total of 16 attackers.
A news agency quoted the TTP spokesman Muhammad Khorasani as saying: “We proudly claim responsibility for the attack on Pakistani air base. This base is being used by fighter jets for bombing us.”
This was an apparent reference to the ongoing military operation Zarb-e-Azb against militants in Pakistan’s northwest Federally Administered Tribal Areas and which has been billed as a major success by the military, the Government of Pakistan and the international community as well.
The mastermind behind the PAF Badaber base attack — in which 29 people, mostly in the forces and a few civilians, lost their lives and all the attackers were killed — is said to be Umar Mansoor, also known as Khalif Umar. In the video that was released by the TTP, he is seen with the purported attackers. There is also an unnamed child in the propaganda video.