IN a bleak mountainous setting, 18 men in balaclavas who are loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Pakistan’s Taliban, fire automatic weapons into the hillside in a display of force.

The 39-minute jihadist video, entitled Revenge - the Big Attacks of Baitullah Mehsud, and posted on an Al-Qaeda website last week, is the first footage from a training camp in Mehsud’s stronghold of South Waziristan. As the Pakistani army is set to attempt to obliterate Mehsud and his militants, the video’s release may warn of determined resistance.

A few weeks ago, an intercepted telephone conversation between two Taliban leaders suggested Mehsud had dispatched a new wave of suicide bombers across Pakistan. In Peshawar, North West Frontier Province, where the Taliban are suspected of bombing the Pearl Continental hotel this month, killing 18 people, markets and cafes are deserted as people stay at home.

The video also portrays two pale-skinned men loading weapons, indicating that westerners may have joined Mehsud’s ranks. Professor Michael Clarke, director of the Royal United Services Institute, believes it is “entirely likely” westerners could be attending training camps in Waziristan. Of 90 terrorism suspects convicted since 2003, at least half had trained in Afghanistan or Pakistan, he said.

While Mehsud is feared for domestic atrocities, he is also said to be taking terror abroad.

In papers submitted to Spanish authorities after a raid on an alleged terrorist cell in Barcelona last January, one suspect claimed he had been trained by Mehsud to launch suicide attacks, starting with the Barcelona underground.

“He [Mehsud] is working against the interest of the state of Pakistan. We have a network of informers after him and the moment his whereabouts are known, the forces are going to hit him,” said Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, the defence minister.

The winding-down of the army’s operation to drive the Taliban from the Swat Valley has freed troops to focus on Waziristan. A security official said: “Troops are in the area and await a signal to trace or kill Baitullah Mehsud.”

There have already been artillery and helicopter strikes on at least 50 Mehsud hideouts, and on Friday about 50 militants were killed when jets pounded a training camp, two compounds and three madrasahs under Mehsud’s command. A further 32 died yesterday.

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