More than 10,000 pro-Taliban supporters rallied near the Afghan border on Friday to hear a tape by the brother of slain Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah.Slogans of “long live (Taliban supremo) Mullah Omar, (Al-Qaeda chief) Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban movement,” rang out at the charged gathering in Killi Nalai, a village in Baluchistan province, an AFP photographer said.
The fiery voice recording was said to be of Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, who has replaced his brother as military commander after he was killed about three weeks ago by NATO-led forces in southern Afghanistan.
“We will never forget the blood of our martyrs and will complete Dadullah’s mission of expelling the infidels and their lackeys from our motherland,” he said on the tape.
“It is the responsibility of every Muslim to join jihad (holy war).”
A man who said he was a Taliban commander named Abdur Rahman spoke to the crowd in person, saying that he had been fighting in Afghanistan. When he asked the crowd if they were ready for jihad, they chanted: “Yes, we will follow.”
Several current and former members of parliament from hardline Islamist political parties were also among the speakers.