MIRAMSHAH, April 24: Masked gunmen torched newspapers in Mirali in North Waziristan Agency on Monday because the publications branded them ‘terrorists’ and demanded that they be called ‘mujahideen’ or ‘Taliban’.

The four masked militants stopped vehicles carrying bundles of regional and national dailies, at gunpoint in the Mirali bazaar and set the newspapers on fire.

“If newspapers don’t change their (collective) policy towards ‘mujahideen’, the (so-called) Taliban will take action against vehicles carrying newspapers as well as their local correspondents,” the sources quoted the vehicles’ drivers as saying.

Meanwhile, so-called local Taliban fired four rockets on a fort in the Gorwek area in Shawal region, some 50 kilometres from here on Sunday night, sources said.

No casualty was reported in the missile attack. Sources said that the security forces retaliated with gunship helicopters, which targeted the militants’ positions.

AFP adds: Militants distributed leaflets in Miramshah and adjoining areas on Sunday calling for a holy war against Americans and their allies, referring to them as “Jews, Christians and infidels”.

Security sources said that so-called Pakistani Taliban have taken virtual control of parts of the tribal areas, setting up parallel justice and administrative systems based on the Shariah.