Taliban warns Pakistani politicians

The Taliban in Pakistan has warned politicians from the Swat valley that they and their families will be attacked unless they quit their posts protesting against the continuing army offensive in the troubled region. On Wednesday, Muslim Khan, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman, gave members of the national and regional assemblies a three-day deadline to denounce the military assault on Taliban fighters.The warning came hours after suspected Taliban fighters attacked Nato supply trucks at a transport terminal near the northwestern city of Peshawar, destroying eight vehicles.Imran Khan, correspondent reporting from Pakistan, said the warning signalled a "dark turn" in the unfolding events in Swat where the Pakistani army is battling Taliban fighters."They [the Taliban] can make these threats and people will take them very seriously," Khan said. Up to 15,000 Pakistani troops are engaged in the fight against about 4,000 Taliban-linked fighters in the Swat valley and surrounding areas of the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP).Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled from their homes in the northwest in an attempt to escape the clashes.