MIRAMSHAH, July 21: For the first time, militants in North Waziristan have claimed responsibility for suicide bombings and other attacks on security forces in the troubled area, where about 50 soldiers have died in two weeks.

In a statement, Commander Maulvi Abdul Khaliq Haqqani said on Saturday that Gen Pervez Musharraf was a tyrant and the army, police and rangers personnel had brutally killed unarmed boys and girls.

Paying rich tribute to Lal Masjid deputy cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi and his comrades, who were killed in an army raid, he said that sacrifices of “these martyrs” would bear fruit.

“Mujahideen of the North and South Waziristan agencies will avenge the martyred brothers, sisters and sons. Praise be to Allah, Mujahideen have launched activities and have been conducting guerilla and suicide attacks against the army and paramilitary forces. They will take revenge of the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa operation,” the statement quoted Commander Haqqani as saying.

In a related development, militants have issued a Fatwa (decree) asking print media not to use word “martyr” for soldiers killed in suicide attacks in the troubled region.

As a first step towards implementing the decree, militants placed a ban on the distribution of a national Urdu daily in the area for one week for calling dead soldiers “Shaheed”, said a pamphlet.