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Hakeemullah Mehsud vows revenge

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- The leader of the Pakistani Taliban announced his group would exact revenge on U.S. and Pakistani forces for the killing of a former commander.

In his first public appearance since taking command in August, Hakeemullah Mehsud appeared before reporters in South Waziristan vowing to avenge the death of his cousin and former leader Baitullah Mehsud, the Press Trust of India reports.

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Taliban leaders reportedly held a tribal conference last week in the town of Mir Ali in North-West Frontier province to discuss plans to avenge the death of Baitullah. The conference followed the release of a video circulated by Pakistan's Samaa TV allegedly showed the body of the former Taliban commander, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in August.

Pakistani intelligence officials had warned government security forces to be vigilant amid the latest Taliban warning.

The Hakeemullah announcement coincided closely with the suicide bombing of the offices of the World Food Program on Monday in Islamabad. Five employees of the United Nations were killed in the attack.

Hakeemullah led operations against NATO convoys in Peshawar. He assumed the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban in late August.

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