The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Wednesday threatened to target the top leaders of the two major political parties in the ruling coalition if they continued to support tough measures against the militants.

The TTP, which is believed to be close to al Qaida, has warned Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari led Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) — the two major parties of the ruling coalition.

“If these two parties remain firm on their position and continue to be slaves of the army, then action will be taken against their leading people,” a statement issued by the militant group said.

The group warned that “people should avoid getting close to such leading people.”

It claimed that the TTP was only waging what it called “jihad” in Pakistan and “our target is the security agencies occupying the country”.

It especially warned Bilawal, whose mother former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed in a terrorist attack in 2007.

“Although Bilawal is still young, this poor man has not yet witnessed the state of war,” the statement said, adding that the PPP leader had declared an open war on TTP.