KABUL, Afghanistan — The reclusive commander of the Pakistani Taliban said Tuesday that his fighters had carried out Monday’s bold assault on a police academy in eastern Pakistan and boasted that he was planning a terrorist attack in Washington that would astonish the world.
Baitullah Mehsud called several international news agencies in Pakistan to assert responsibility for the armed occupation of the police training compound that ended with 11 people dead.
He told reporters that he was planning to attack targets in the U.S. capital in retaliation for more than 30 strikes by unmanned U.S. drones that have targeted suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctuaries in northwest Pakistan near the Afghanistan border.
“Soon we will launch an attack on Washington that will amaze everyone in the world,” Mehsud told The Associated Press.
The U.S. government already has offered a $5 million reward for the capture of Mehsud, and the State Department has described him as a major “al-Qaeda facilitator” in the region near the Afghan border, where he commands thousands of fighters.
Asked about the bounty on his head, he told a Los Angeles Times representative: “Martyrdom is our aim, and we would be very happy if we could achieve it.”
The young, religious guerrilla leader has rarely been seen or heard in public. He has never before issued such a specific threat to do harm directly to the West.
