Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

Activities: SL carried out 87 known attacks in 2012, killing one civilian and 18 members of the
security forces. In April, SL combatants kidnapped 36 natural gas workers from the Camisea
pipeline outside the VRAEM zone. During failed rescue attempts, eight security forces were
killed, 10 were wounded and a U.S.-owned helicopter operated by the police was destroyed. All
36 workers were released unharmed within five days. In June, SL guerrillas briefly seized 18
Camisea pipeline workers from an area close to the April kidnapping site. The hostages were
released unharmed. In August, SL ambushed a Peruvian army patrol in a remote part of the
VRAEM, killing five soldiers and wounding six others. In September, SL combatants damaged
the Camisea gas pipeline near Kepashiato and killed a soldier aboard the helicopter that came to
inspect the damage. In Echarate, a district in the region of Cusco, SL members blew up three
helicopters subcontracted by Camisea in October.
Strength: The two SL factions together are believed to have several hundred armed members.
Location/Area of Operation: Peru, with most activity in rural areas, specifically the Huallaga
Valley and the Apurimac, Ene, and Montaro River Valley of central Peru.
Funding and External Aid: SL is primarily funded by the narcotics trade.
TEHRIK-E TALIBAN PAKISTAN
aka Pakistani Taliban; Tehreek-e-Taliban; Tehrik-e-Taliban; Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan; Tehriki-Taliban
Pakistan; TTP
Description: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on September 1, 2010, Tehrik-e
Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a Pakistan-based terrorist organization formed in 2007 in opposition to
Pakistani military efforts in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Previously disparate
militant tribes agreed to cooperate and eventually coalesced into TTP under the leadership of
now deceased leader Baitullah Mehsud. The group officially presented itself as a discrete entity
in 2007. Since August 2009, TTP has been led by Hakimullah Mehsud. TTP’s goals include
waging a terrorist campaign against the Pakistani military, as well as against NATO forces in
Afghanistan, and overthrowing the Government of Pakistan. TTP uses the tribal belt along the
Afghan-Pakistani border to train and deploy its operatives, and the group has a symbiotic
relationship with al-Qa’ida (AQ). TTP draws ideological guidance from AQ, while AQ relies on
TTP for safe haven in the Pashtun areas along the Afghan-Pakistani border. This arrangement
gives TTP access to both AQ’s global terrorist network and the operational experience of its
members.
Activities: TTP has carried out and claimed responsibility for numerous terrorist acts against
Pakistani and U.S. interests, including a December 2009 suicide attack on a U.S. military base in
Khowst, Afghanistan, which killed seven U.S. citizens, and an April 2010 suicide bombing
against the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan, which killed six Pakistani citizens. TTP is
suspected of being involved in the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto. TTP claimed to have supported the failed attempt by Faisal Shahzad to detonate
an explosive device in New York City’s Times Square on May 1, 2010. TTP’s claim was
validated by investigations that revealed that TTP directed and facilitated the plot.
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