Most-Wanted Taliban Leader Flees Pakistan

Maulana Fazlullah, founder of the Swat region's Taliban, has fled Pakistan for Afghanistan, despite earlier reports that he had been wounded, killed, or captured by the Pakistani military. Fazlullah told the BBC via phone, allegedly from Afghanistan, that his group would soon "launch full-fledged punitive raids against the army in Swat." He also sent an ominous threat to a Pakistani official, and told the BBC there was no need for the U.S. to send more troops to Afghanistan. "Hundreds of thousands of Pakistani soldiers are already involved in furthering the U.S. agenda in the region," he said. BBC reporter Hai Kakar, who has met with Fazlullah twice, confirmed that the voice sounded like the Taliban leader.