Islamabad, November 17: Maulana Fazlullah, the chief of Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat valley, has claimed that he fled to Afghanistan after evading troops conducting operations against militants and threatened to launch “hit and run attacks” soon against security forces in the restive northwest region.
“I have arrived in Afghanistan safely,” Fazlullah told BBC Urdu on phone.
He read out a written statement and said his men will soon launch “hit and run attacks” on security forces in Swat.
The Pakistan Army should act to stop US drone attacks in the country’s tribal belt and activities of American security contractors like Blackwater on Pakistani soil, he said.
Fazlullah also warned that North West Frontier Province Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain will meet the same fate as that of former Afghan President Najibullah.
The Taliban had hanged Najibullah and his brother after they captured Kabul in 1996.
Hussain has often condemned the actions of the Taliban and said the NWFP government will continue operations against the militants till they are eliminated.
Fazlullah said there is no need for US President Barack Obama to send more troops to Afghanistan as hundreds of thousands of Pakistani forces are fulfilling the objectives of the Americans in their own country.
He also said he had appointed Omar Hasan Ahrabi as his spokesman.
–Agencies