Peshawar: A Pakistani Taliban faction
linked to trainer of suicide bombers Qari Hussain on Thursday
claimed responsibility for the assassination of Punjab
Governor Salmaan Taseer, saying that the "man who killed him
was from among us."
"We claim responsibility for the killing of Salmaan
Taseer. The Punjab Governor was our target and we have planned
this programme and the man who killed him was from among us,"
Shakirullah Shakir, a spokesman for the fidayeen group
associated with Qari Hussain, said on phone from an
undisclosed location.
The militants spokesman also held out threats that
those who spoke against Islam would also be murdered.
Shakir claimed Taseer was killed for supporting Asia
Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, and
for his remarks against the blasphemy law.
Malik Qadri, the Elite Force guard who gunned down
Taseer on Tuesday, said he was angered by the Governor's
criticism of a controversial blasphemy law.
Qadri surrendered immediately after shooting Taseer.
Investigators are trying to determine if Qadri acted
on his own or was part of a conspiracy. <
A provincial minister had recently said that Qari
Hussain, a Taliban commander from the Mehsud tribe who was
known as the trainer of suicide bombers, was killed in a US
drone attack in North Waziristan in October.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 06, 2011, 20:24