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Baitullah vows ‘bloodier’ spring offensive in Afghanistan

KOT KALAY: Tribal Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud has said this year’s spring offensive in Afghanistan will be even “bloodier” than last year.

“The mujahideen (holy warriors) will give a tougher fight this year than last year,” he told Daily Times at a secret location in South Waziristan, after taking this correspondent on a tour of Kot Kalay, where an airstrike on an alleged militant training camp killed eight people on Tuesday.

More than 4,000 people were killed in last year’s Taliban-linked insurgency in Afghanistan. Around 1,000 were civilians, more than 100 coalition soldiers and the rest were said to be insurgents.

“This year’s spring offensive will be fought harder than before as we want to build on last year’s successes,” said Baitullah, who struck a peace deal with the government in February 2005.

Baitullah vowed to avenge Tuesday’s airstrike. “They launch airstrikes on us and we respond with suicide attack,” he said amidst dozens of armed militants who were guarding him. More than 40 army recruits were killed in a suicide attack at Darrgai on November 8, following an airstrike on a madrassa in Bajaur on October 30 in which 83 people were killed. iqbal khattak

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