A spokesman for the local Taliban on Saturday denied responsibility for a rocket attack on a security fort in North Waziristan saying the attack had been carried out by those trying to worsen the situation in the agency. | "Nope. Nope. Wudn't us. Somebody tryin' to make us look bad, it wuz." |
Spokesman Abdullah Farhad, while speaking to reporters from an undisclosed location over the telephone, said he did not know who was involved in the attack. “We respect the peace agreement (with the government) and have not broken it. It (the attack) was carried out by elements that do not want peace in the region.” Farhad also denied that the local Taliban had imposed taxes in the area saying pamphlets distributed in Miran Shah on various types of taxes were “bogus”.
The rocket attack was the first one in North Waziristan following the September 5 peace accord between the government and the local Taliban. Farhad said if the Taliban ever decided to return to militancy, they would first renounce the peace agreement. He said that both parties were respecting the peace agreement and there had been no violations. The local Taliban were no longer going to Afghanistan to fight the US and its allies, he added. Farhad was unaware of the abduction of a tehsildar in North Waziristan, and said the local Taliban were looking into the matter.