KILLI NALAI, June 1: More than 10,000 Taliban supporters rallied in a village in Balochistan near the Afghan border on Friday to hear a tape by the brother of slain Tali-ban commander Mullah Dadullah.

Slogans of “long live Mullah Omar, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban movement,” rang out at the charged gathering in Killi Nalai, an AFP photographer said.

The fiery voice recording was said to be of Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, who replaced his brother as military com-

mander after he was killed about three weeks ago by Nato-led forces in southern Afghanistan.

“We will never forget the blood of our martyrs and will complete Dadullah’s mission of expelling the infidels and their lackeys from our motherland,” he said on the tape.

“It is the responsibility of every Muslim to join jihad.” A man who said he was a Taliban commander named Abdur Rahman spoke to the crowd in person, saying he had been fighting in Afghanistan.

He hit out at civilian casualties in Afghanistan, saying foreign troops in Afghanistan “always bomb instead of fighting face-to-face and so most of the casualties are innocent people, including children and women”.

When he asked the crowd if they were ready for jihad, they chanted: “Yes, we will follow.” Several current and former members of parliament from hard-line Islamist political parties were also among the speakers.

Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban’s famously brutal, one-legged military commander, was the most senior figure from the movement to be killed since the hardliners were removed from government in 2001.

Afghan intelligence officials have said he was targeted last month after crossing over the rugged 2,500 kilometre frontier from Pakistan.

Friday’s protest comes amid increasing pressure on military ruler President Gen Pervez Musharraf to crack down on militants who are launching cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.—AFP