A Taliban commander was communicating live with militants as they carried out the Pakistan school massacre that killed 148 people, according to one of the group's media units.
Mehsud Media, which is one of the Pakistani Taliban's (TTP) official media arms, released a statement claiming the attack was "conducted under direct supervision" of a commander named Omar Mansour who gave the terrorists "directions during the operation." The report was highlighted by Flashpoint Intelligence — a global security firm and NBC News counterterrorism consultant.
The group also demanded that Pakistan halt all military operations, stop killing militants' relatives and release all of the women imprisoned by security forces. Officials must not “confront or detain Muslims in the future," Flashpoint quoted Mehsud Media as saying. The statement also warned that if the Pakistani Taliban's demands were not met, it "will be forced to target all the military and security institutions around the country." On Friday, Pakistan's army said it had killed 59 militants in a northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border.
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