Update to this story.
Via Bill Roggio:
Late last week, it was reported that a small cadre of expert trainers from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan under the command of Mohammad Amin set up a base in Syria to support jihadist activities against the Syrian government. In the last 24 hours, both the Associated Press and Reuters reported that hundreds of Pakistani jihadists, including some from the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, are fighting in Syria.
Reuters reported that “hundreds” of Pakistani fighters are currently in Syria:
“On Sunday, Taliban commanders in Pakistan said they had also decided to join the cause, saying hundreds of fighters had gone to Syria to fight alongside their “Mujahedeen friends.”
“When our brothers needed our help, we sent hundreds of fighters along with our Arab friends,” one senior commander told Reuters, adding that the group would soon issue videos of what he described as their victories in Syria.”
AP notes that there are two different types of fighters from Pakistan in Syria- – those who belong to al Qaeda and various Central Asian groups, and members of the Pakistani Taliban and other Pakistani jihadist groups, specifically the virulently anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi:
“The fighters fall mainly into two categories. One includes foreign combatants from places like Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and likely the Middle East who came to Pakistan’s tribal region to fight U.S.-led forces in neighboring Afghanistan and are now heading to Syria because they view it as the most pressing battle, said the Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
This group includes members of al-Qaida who trained the Pakistani Taliban in areas such as bomb-making and are now moving on to the battlefield in Syria, said Pakistani Taliban fighters, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted by the government.”
“Our aim and purpose is to fight against Shiites and eliminate them,” said Suleman, who is in his mid-30s and has a closely trimmed black beard. “It is more rewarding if you first fight against the evil here and then you travel for this noble purpose too. The more you travel, the higher the reward from God.”