'White House, London, New York are my targets'

Islamabad, Jan 30: Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud has told the Al Jazeera television channel that he wants to destroy the White House, New York and London.

In his first-ever television interview that lasted 25 minutes, Mehsud was quoted by the Daily Times as saying: "Our primary aim is to finish Britain [and] the US, and to crush the pride of the non-Muslims." Baitullah Mehsud told Admad Zaidan, Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Islamabad, at an undisclosed location that President Pervez Musharraf was working for the interests of "the non-believers".

He said his coalition would fight back and "teach him (Musharraf) a lesson".

Mehsud was recently chosen the leader of a militant coalition named the Taliban Movement of Pakistan, a collection of 40 groups that have come together to battle the Pakistani army.

ANI