Tehreek-e-Taliban to target Nawaz Sharif's party, leaders

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has decided to target leaders in the Nawaz Sharif government and members of his party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), a media report said Friday.

Mullah Fazlullah, the absconding chief of the TTP, has threatened government leaders and senior members of the ruling PML-N in the country, Dawn reported. In a video message released to the media, Fazlullah said that "from now" the PML-N "is our target".

Fazlullah, reportedly hiding in Afghanistan's Kunar province, looked quite perturbed at the government's recent decision to end moratorium on death penalty for terrorists and over the hanging of a number of convicted terrorists.

He also accused the media of not covering "killing of innocent people" during the military operations in country's tribal region of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

The threat came as the Pakistan Army stepped up its operation against the armed militants in North Waziristan and Khyber Agency since last month's attack on an army-run Peshawar school in which over 140 children and teachers were massacred by TTP gunmen.