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Taliban chief dead, Pakistan confirms
Source: Agencies |
February 11, 2010, Thursday
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PAKISTANI Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has died, the country's top civilian security official told The Associated Press yesterday. It was the government's first categorical confirmation of the death of the feared militant, whose passing is likely to weaken, but not vanquish, the al-Qaida-linked insurgent network he led.
Reports of Mehsud's death emerged after a spate of US missiles hit his stronghold in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt in mid-January. Mehsud was said to have died of wounds suffered in one of the strikes in the Waziristan region - another big victory for the CIA-led missile campaign that killed Mehsud's predecessor just six months ago.
The Taliban have repeatedly denied his death, but backed off an initial promise to prove the 28-year-old was still alive.
In a response to an AP query, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik, wrote, "Yes, he is dead," while a senior intelligence official concurred separately. Neither gave details as to when or how the militant died.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
In late January, a tribal elder told the AP that he attended Mehsud's funeral in the Mamuzai area of the Orakzai tribal region after Mehsud died at his in-laws' home. Some local media reports, citing unnamed Taliban sources, said Mehsud died more recently in the Multan area of central Pakistan on his way to receive medical treatment in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi.
In the first few days after the mid-January missile strikes, the Taliban released a pair of audiotapes believed to carry Mehsud's voice, in which he insisted he was fine. They have stopped offering additional evidence, one reason US counterterrorism officials also are increasingly certain he died.
Still, Mehsud has been mistakenly reported dead before.
After his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, died in an August missile strike, the Pakistani interior minister was among those who claimed Hakimullah was killed in a succession struggle. But the militant met with reporters, on camera, in the weeks afterward and went on to lead a surge of bomb attacks across the country that left more than 600 people dead.
Reports of Mehsud's death emerged after a spate of US missiles hit his stronghold in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt in mid-January. Mehsud was said to have died of wounds suffered in one of the strikes in the Waziristan region - another big victory for the CIA-led missile campaign that killed Mehsud's predecessor just six months ago.
The Taliban have repeatedly denied his death, but backed off an initial promise to prove the 28-year-old was still alive.
In a response to an AP query, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik, wrote, "Yes, he is dead," while a senior intelligence official concurred separately. Neither gave details as to when or how the militant died.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
In late January, a tribal elder told the AP that he attended Mehsud's funeral in the Mamuzai area of the Orakzai tribal region after Mehsud died at his in-laws' home. Some local media reports, citing unnamed Taliban sources, said Mehsud died more recently in the Multan area of central Pakistan on his way to receive medical treatment in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi.
In the first few days after the mid-January missile strikes, the Taliban released a pair of audiotapes believed to carry Mehsud's voice, in which he insisted he was fine. They have stopped offering additional evidence, one reason US counterterrorism officials also are increasingly certain he died.
Still, Mehsud has been mistakenly reported dead before.
After his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, died in an August missile strike, the Pakistani interior minister was among those who claimed Hakimullah was killed in a succession struggle. But the militant met with reporters, on camera, in the weeks afterward and went on to lead a surge of bomb attacks across the country that left more than 600 people dead.
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