Pakistans Taliban have named Mullah Fazlullah as their new leader, after the death of Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone attack.
Fazlullah is a particularly hardline commander whose men shot the schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai, BBC reports.
Mehsud was killed when missiles struck his vehicle in the North Waziristan region on 1 November.
The government had been trying to set up peace talks, but the new leader has already rejected the initiative.
The BBC reports that the Taliban have indicated that Fazlullah wants revenge for the killing of Mehsud.
A Taliban spokesman told the BBC the militants would target the military and the governing party.
The Mehsud killing had angered the
Pakistani government. Interior Minister Chaudry Khan, said that the
drone strike was not just the killing of one person, its the death of
all peace efforts.
The announcement of the new leader was
made by the Talibans caretaker leader Asmatullah Shaheen at a news
conference at an undisclosed location.
When the news was announced, there was
reportedly heavy celebratory gunfire in the area around Miranshah, the
main town in the tribal area of North Waziristan.
Fazlullah led a brutal campaign in Swat
between 2008 and 2009, enforcing hardline Islamic law, that included
burning schools, and public floggings and beheadings.
A military operation was launched to retake the area.
Fazlullah fled over the border into Afghanistan but Islamabad says he has continued to orchestrate attacks in Pakistan.
He was accused of being behind a
roadside bomb in September that killed Maj.-Gen. Sanaullah Niazi, the
top commander in Swat, along with two other military personnel.
Fazlullah was known for his radio broadcasts calling for strict Islamic laws and earning him the nickname Mullah Radio……
