Hizbul commander Mast Gul resurfaces in Peshawar

He hails from Sadda in Kurram tribal region, which has for long been hit by sectarian violence.  

In March 1995, a group of militants led by Mast Gul, many of them foreigners, holed up inside the 14th-century Charar-e-Sharief for two months.

Following the standoff, the shrine burnt down in a mysterious fire in May. The Indian Army said the militants triggered blasts that caused the fire.  

Twenty militants, two soldiers and five civilians died in the standoff. Gul and the other militants disappeared.  

When he returned to Pakistan, he was given a hero's welcome by Jamaat-e-Islami, which showcased him at meetings.

Though the TTP earlier denied its involvement in Tuesday's suicide bombing of a hotel in Koocha Risaldar, a Shia- dominated neighbourhood of Peshwar, Swati said it was carried out to avenge an attack on a Sunni seminary in Rawalpindi in November.

Besides this attack, Swati said the Taliban had killed two Shias - Tehrik Nifaz Fiqah-e-Jafria Pakistan leader Ali Asghar and a bank manager - in Peshawar district.  

“The attacks were carried out to fulfil the wish of our central deputy emir Shaikh Khalid Haqqani to avenge the death of innocent students in Rawalpindi,” Swati was quoted as saying.