Islamabad, May 9 (Inditop) Stung by a military operation launched against the Taliban in Pakistan’s troubled northwest, the militants Saturday threatened to kill President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
“We will eliminate not just them but also their families,” a Taliban commander in Swat was quoted as saying.
On Thursday, Gilani had said the military had launched its final “decisive” operations against the Taliban in Swat and two other districts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) after they violated a controversial peace accord.
The operation had begun April 26 after the militants, instead of laying down their arms under the peace accord, moved out of their Swat headquarters and occupied Buner district just 100 km from Islamabad.
Soon after the operation began, radical cleric Sufi Mohammad, who had brokered the peace deal with the NWFP government, had announced the Taliban would stage two suicide attacks a week across Pakistan, targeting important personalities as also strategic installations.
The Pakistani army has reported considerable success in the operations, saying more than 300 militants had so far been killed.
