Drone kills Mehsud's wife, brother

[Pete]

Drone kills Mehsud's wife, brother

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-ne...s-wife-brother

Dawn.com had a short story this morning that only mentioned the wife and a couple of others. The one linked above has more details. Interesting.

[Richard]

May have gotten the 'Big Kahuna', too!

Pakistani Taliban Chief Likely Killed
Kamran Haider, Reuters, 6 Aug 2009

There is a strong likelihood that Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed along with his wife and bodyguards in a missile attack two days ago, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Reuters.

"We suspect he was killed in the missile strike," Malik said on Friday. "We have some information, but we don't have material evidence to confirm it."

The United States has placed a $5 million reward on the head of Mehsud, an ally of al Qaeda widely regarded in Pakistan as Public Enemy No. 1.

A U.S. defense official, speaking anonymously in Washington, said he had seen no indications that Mehsud had been killed in the strike.

The attack in a tribal region of northwest Pakistan was believed to have been carried out by a pilotless U.S. drone aircraft at around 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

Neither the Pakistan nor U.S. governments confirm such attacks because of sensitivities over violation of Pakistan's territorial sovereignty.

Intelligence officials and relatives had confirmed earlier that Mehsud's second wife had been killed in the missile strike that targeted her father's home in an outlying settlement close to Makeen village in the South Waziristan tribal region.

A relative of Mehsud's dead wife had initially said the Taliban leader wasn't present when the missiles struck, but rumors that he had either been wounded or killed refused to die down.

The stricken house is some two hours' walk from Makeen, and Taliban fighters had cordoned off the area, refusing to let people enter, according to villagers.

A senior Pakistani security official said that aside from Mehsud's wife, one of Mehsud's brothers and seven of his bodyguards perished in the attack.

The official said intelligence services were trying to discover the identity of another victim, and there was a good chance that it was Mehsud.

Intelligence agents had also picked up signs that leaders of various Taliban factions planned to gather for a shura, or council meeting, somewhere in Waziristan later on Friday.

Sometimes in the past militant leaders presumed to have been killed have resurfaced later.

Mehsud declared himself leader of the Pakistan Taliban, grouping around 13 factions in the northwest, in late 2007, and his fighters have been behind a wave of suicide attacks inside Pakistan and on Western forces across the border in Afghanistan.

He is accused of being behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, a charge he has denied. Conspiracy theories abound over who killed the former prime minister.

U.S. missile attacks on Mehsud territory in South Waziristan became more frequent after the Pakistan government ordered a military offensive against him in June.

Pakistan forces have also bombarded Mehsud's stronghold with air raids and artillery.

Mehsud is estimated to have between 10,000 and over 20,000 battle-hardened fighters with him in the mountains.

The army has sealed roads around Mehsud's territory and villagers have fled the area, but as the days have dragged on there was growing speculation that the strategy might be to isolate him by stealth rather than launch a full-blown assault.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090806/...istan_mehsud_1

[Pete]

Baitullah Mehsud dead, aide confirms

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/...-qureshi-qs-06

"....‘I confirm that Baitullah Mehsud and his wife died in the American missile attack in South Waziristan,’ Kafayatullah told The Associated Press by telephone. He would not give any further details......."


and



"....'Yes, (a) lot of information is pouring in from that area that he's dead, but I'm unable to confirm unless I have solid evidence,’ Malik had said.

A security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said ‘about 70 per cent’ of the information pointed to Mehsud's being dead.

Another senior Pakistani intelligence official said phone and other communications intercepts — he would not be more specific — had led authorities to suspect Mehsud was dead, but he also stressed there was no definitive evidence yet....."

[TraininDummy]

Here is another story on the matter.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archiv...ehsud_is_1.php

[TraininDummy]

Numerous open source claims stating that he was killed.

Reports from Pakistan indicate that Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed during a US airstrike that took place on Aug. 5 in South Waziristan. While Baitullah’s death is a victory for the US and the Pakistani government, his death may provide the Pakistani government and its military with an excuse to opt out of entering South Waziristan to clear it of the Taliban.

Baitullah was reported to have been visiting his second wife at a compound run by his father-in-law, Ikramuddin Mehsud. Unmanned US strike aircraft, likely the Predators or the more sophisticated Reapers, fired four missiles at the compound. Baitullah, his wife, his brother, and seven bodyguards are thought to have been killed.

Late yesterday, US and Pakistani intelligence officials began to suspect Baitullah had been killed after there were reports of a funeral. Additionally, family members whispered he was killed. Reports have also emerged that the Pakistani Taliban is meeting to appoint a successor. Pakistani officials, who have a terrible track record of reporting the deaths of senior Taliban and al Qaeda leaders, are certain Baitullah is dead.

Earlier today, Faqir Mohammed, Baitullah's deputy in the Bajaur tribal agency, confirmed that Baitullah was indeed killed in the strike; other Taliban leaders made similar statements.


Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archiv...#ixzz0NZGERWKz

[Pete]

Pakistani Taliban sows doubt over leader's death

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...5762T420090808

"ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A fellow commander in the Pakistani Taliban insisted that Baitullah Mehsud, the movement's leader, was alive, the BBC reported on Saturday, rejecting government claims he had been eliminated in a U.S. drone strike.

Hakimullah Mehsud, one of the most powerful commanders in the tribal region, described reports of Mehsud's death as "ridiculous" and said it was "the handiwork of the intelligence agencies," the BBC Urdu service website said...."

&

"....Some analysts suspected that the Pakistani Taliban's leadership was divided over who should become the next chief and the denial aimed to buy time until a new leader is chosen.

Western governments with troops in Afghanistan are watching to see if any new Pakistani Taliban leader should shift focus from fighting the Pakistani government, and put their weight behind the Afghan insurgency led by Mullah Mohammad Omar......"

[Pete]

Maybe more good news might be on the way.

Fighting erupts between Taliban rivals

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/...n-rivals-rs-10

A little back and forth over the info. Some say no fighting, some say one was shot and others say both were shot.

We'll wait and see.

[Dad]

I listened to a man on the Diane Rehm show yesterday discuss the drones. He said we not only got this guy and Bin Laden's son, but 14 other high ranking Taliban and AQ personnel in the past year using drones. Cited the program as effective. Admitted some civilians were killed but stated we can't stop the program--it is our most effective tool against the leadership. As to the "civilians killed", it would seem like the old adage about sleeping with dogs would be appropriate.

[alright4u]

http://www.nation.com.pk/majid-nizami.html

Perhaps this is wrong?

[Pete]

Nation , Dawn and other new sources in Pakistan are all reporting the same thing with minor variations.

Yes, sometimes the news from the tribal areas can be muddled and people reported dead pop up alive a few months later but there seems to be a lot of reporters getting the same thing from their sources.

Got my fingers crossed.

[Richard]

"Multiple sources are now confirming he's dead," including at least two Taliban commanders, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told The Associated Press. He said the reports of infighting were "one of the biggest, latest indicators."

"Why there is a fight, why this fight for succession? These are very strong indicators which are leading towards reasonable confirmation that he is killed," Abbas said of Mehsud.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2...hooModule_News

Got my fingers crossed, too.

Richard's $.02

[Pete]

Was this the reason for the fighting at the Shura? Money?

"After Baitullah battle on for Taliban treasure"

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story...l.asp?Id=23778

KARACHI: A bloody feud that followed Baitullah Mehsud’s death involving about three-dozen best-trained Taliban fighters early on Wednesday morning was actually a battle among various Taliban warlords to control Rs 2 billion Taliban funds and ownership of arms and ammunition worth about Rs 1 billion by grabbing the ‘Emarat’ (the leadership) of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), according to senior security officials and knowledgeable Taliban sources.

Such was the charisma and awe of 35-year-old, five feet two inches tall Baitullah Mehsud that none of his associates ever dared to challenge his leadership till an American missile strike blew his body apart on the first floor of the house of his second wife in South Waziristan last week......................"

[Pete]

All Hoey?

This guy thinks so.

"Baitullah: Dead or Alive?"

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblog...or_alive_1.asp

We'll see.