MIRAMSHAH, Dec 3: The new head of the Pakistani Taliban had returned to the country’s tribal areas, a spokesman for the militants said on Tuesday, after several years based in Afghanistan.

Mullah Fazlullah was elected as leader of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) last month after his predecessor was killed by a US drone.

Fazlullah has been based mainly in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan since 2009, when a military operation ended his followers’ brutal two-year “rule” of Swat valley.

TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said Fazlullah was now “commanding the Taliban movement at an unknown location in the tribal areas”.

The TTP and other militants have strongholds in the seven semi-autonomous tribal areas along Pakistan’s rugged, porous border with Afghanistan.

Shahid’s comments came after some TV channels reported that Fazlullah had reached Waziristan.

“It is not true that Maulana Fazlullah is in Waziristan, he is in the tribal areas but at unknown location,” Shahid said.

An intelligence source said: “We have information that... Fazlullah has entered the tribal area along with 15 or 20 guards.”

According to the source, Fazlullah will be keen to end squabbling among the Taliban leadership and streamline what is essentially a chaotic organisation with weak central command.

Another intelligence source said his escort included three high-profile Taliban commanders, Azam Waziristani, Mufti Abdul Rashid and Muftahuddin.—Agencies