Fazlullah claims responsibility for killing Pak Army general

Taliban commander Mullah Fazlullah has claimed responsibility for the assassination of a Pakistan Army general in a roadside bombing last month in the restive northwest, according to a video released by the militants.
Fazlullah, who led Taliban in Swat Valley till the army launched an operation to flush out the militants in 2009, appears in the video, which features graphic footage of the attack on Maj Gen Sanaullah Khan Niazi on September 15.
Niazi, who had led Pakistani troops in the campaign against the Taliban in Swat, died in the attack along with another officer and a soldier.
The video features an interview with Fazlullah, also known as Mullah Radio for his fiery broadcasts on an illegal FM radio run by the militants, and details of the attack that killed Niazi, reported The Long War Journal, a website that tracks terror groups like the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

In the video, a military vehicle is seen traveling along a mountainous road when it is hit by a massive blast that throws up dust and smoke. The vehicle explodes and then careens down the mountainside.
Fazlullah, who fled to Afghanistan after the army launched the operation in Swat, said that the general was killed to avenge the death of Sheikh Waliullah Kabalgrami.

Kabalgrami was Fazlullah's mentor and a leader in the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah-e-Mohammedi, which had close links with the Taliban in Swat. Kabalgrami died in custody after being rounded up by security forces in Swat in 2009.
Fazlullah claims his forces killed another Pakistani general and that the ultimate target of the Taliban is army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani.

"Last year, we hit Major General Javed Iqbal in a helicopter," Fazlullah said. "Even today, this army is unable to understand how we targeted Javed Iqbal in the helicopter. This attack was launched to avenge the killing of our respected teacher Maulana Waliullah Kabalgrami.
"Our target is Kayani and the Corps Commander, and, Inshallah, we will attack them. We are working on it."
Referring to the issue of negotiating with the government, Fazlullah said the Taliban will not accept anything short of Shariah or Islamic law and the end of any form of democratic government.
"The government of Pakistan is enslaved and is not autonomous. In the past, it has not abided by a single peace agreement," he said, claiming the government failed to live up to earlier peace deals in northwest Pakistan.

"Negotiations are a component of war. This war is still ongoing," he said.