PESHAWAR: The Pakistani Taliban announced on Friday that they would target security forces, government installations, political leaders and police; however, they said civilians, bazaars or public places would not be targeted.
The announcement came a day after Shura of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the main umbrella organisation of the Taliban, appointed hardline commander Mullah Fazlullah as their new leader.
“We will target security forces, government installations, political leaders and police,” Asmatullah Shaheen, head of the Shura and the TTP interim chief, told a foreign news agency by telephone from an undisclosed location.
However, the TTP interim chief said that the terror outfit would not target civilians, bazaars or public places.
“We have a plan. But I want to make one thing clear. We will not target civilians, bazaars or public places. People do not need to be afraid,” Shaheen added.
The appointment of Fazlullah, also named as Radio Mullah, as the TTP new chief came a week after a US drone strike killed former TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud in the restive North Waziristan tribal agency bordering Afghanistan last Friday.
Though Pakistan publicly condemns US drone strikes as a breach of its sovereignty but in private officials admit the government broadly supports them.
“Pakistan has full information about drone attacks,” Shaheen alleged. “Pakistan is a slave of America. It is an American colony.”
