Pak Taliban say key commander killed in drone attack; vow more strikes

Pakistani Taliban's key commander Qari Muhammad Zafar was killed in a recent US drone strike in North Waziristan tribal region, the militant outfit acknowledged today and vowed to carry out attacks to avenge his death.

Qari Zafar was among 14 militants killed in a drone strike at Dargah Mandi near the army camp in Miranshah on February 24, said a statement issued by the Taliban.

He was buried at a "secret location" after funeral prayers, it said, adding the Taliban "will soon take revenge for his killing from the government of Pakistan anywhere in the country."

"The government of Pakistan is responsible for the killing (of militant commanders) in drone strikes and the arrest of Afghan Taliban leaders Mullah Baradar, Mullah Kabir, Mullah Abdul Salam, (Jundullah chief) Abdul Malik Rigi and Afia Siddiqi, a Pakistani doctor now in the custody of the US," the statement said.

The US had offered a reward of five million dollars for Qari Zafar, who was linked to al-Qaeda and Fidayeen-e-Islam terror group. He was wanted in connection with a March 2006 suicide attack on the US consulate in Karachi that killed an American diplomat and three Pakistanis.

Qari Zafar alias Qari Abdul Majeed led his own faction of the Taliban known as the Qari Zafar group.

The Taliban statement said Mufti Abuzar Khanjari had been appointed the new chief of the Qari Zafar group.