DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan: The Pakistani Taleban chose the ruthless commander who planned the attack on teenage activist Malala Yousafzai as the militant group’s new leader Thursday, and it ruled out holding peace talks with the government.

Mullah Fazlullah was unanimously appointed the new chief by the Taleban’s leadership council, or shoura, after several days of deliberation, said the head of the shoura, Asmatullah Shaheen Bhitani. Militants fired AK-47 assault rifles and anti-aircraft guns into the air to celebrate.

The decision came less than a week after a US drone strike killed leader Hakimullah Mehsud in the North Waziristan tribal area near the Afghan border.

Bhitani accused Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of selling out the group when he met with President Barack Obama in Washington on Oct. 23. “We will take revenge on Pakistan for the martyrdom of Hakimullah,” Bhitani set.

Fazlullah has served as the Pakistani Taleban’s leader in the northwest Swat Valley but is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. He rose to prominence through radio broadcasts demanding the implementation of Shariah, earning him the nickname “Mullah Radio.”

Fazlullah and his group carried out the attack on teenage activist Malala Yousufzai, who was shot in the head while on her way home from school in October 2012. She was attacked after speaking out against the Taleban.

Fazlullah also claimed responsibility for the deaths of a Pakistani general and two other soldiers in a roadside bombing near the Afghan border in September.

Fazlullah is the first leader of the Pakistani Taleban not to come from the Mehsud tribe based in the South Waziristan tribal area.