Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Hakimullah Mehsud has warned that his fighters are planning orchestrated attacks against the government and the military, an Arab TV reported on Monday. In an Eid message posted on the organisation’s website, Mehsud claimed his fighters had withdrawn from certain areas as part of a “war strategy” and were planning attacks to regain areas they had lost control of in Swat, Malakand and the Tribal Areas. He claimed some of the areas vacated by Taliban fighters had again fallen into their hands. The militants were waging a guerrilla war and inflicting losses on Pakistani security personnel and US elements, he claimed. Mehsud has rarely been seen in public since the US stepped up drone strikes targeting him and the Pakistani military launched operations against him and his fighters. However, he claimed that the TTP was continuing the “open war” that was declared by slain TTP founder Baitullah Mehsud against the Pakistani state in January 2008 due to the country’s alliance with the US.
