01/31/10
From Fox News
Obituary: Mehsud, of airstrike and natural causes, but mostly of airstrike.
Pakistan Taliban Chief Reportedly Killed in
U.S. Drone Strike
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, left,
is seen with CIA homicide bomber Humam Khalil
Abu-Mulal Al-Balawi in a video released Jan. 9.
Reuters
The head of the Taliban in Pakistan, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed in a U.S.
drone attack, Pakistan state television reported Sunday.
The report stated Mehsud had been injured in a drone attack in the Shaktoi area
January 14 and died three days later. He reportedly was buried in the village of
Mamuzai in the North Waziristan region.
But a Taliban spokesman denied the report on Sunday, calling it a "total lie" in
an interview with Reuters.
The Pakistani army said it is investigating the reports.
The militant leader's death would be an important success for both Pakistan,
which has been battling the Pakistani Taliban, and the U.S., which blames Mehsud
for a recent deadly bombing against the CIA in Afghanistan.
The army's announcement came shortly after Pakistani state television, citing
unnamed "official sources," reported that Mehsud died in Orakzai, an area in
Pakistan's northwest tribal region where he was reportedly being treated for his
injuries.
"We have these reports coming to us," army spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas told The
Associated Press. "We are investigating whether it is true or wrong."
A tribal elder told the AP that he attended Mehsud's funeral in the Mamuzai area
of Orakzai on Thursday. He said Mehsud was buried in Mamuzai graveyard after he
died at his in-laws' home. The elder spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of
retribution from the Taliban.
Pakistani intelligence officials have said that Mehsud was targeted in a U.S.
drone strike in South Waziristan on Jan. 14, triggering rumors that he had been
injured or killed. The strike targeted a meeting of militant commanders in the
Shaktoi area of South Waziristan.
Mehsud issued two audio tapes after the strike denying the rumors. But Pakistani
intelligence officials told the AP on Sunday that they have confirmation that
the Taliban chief's legs and abdomen were wounded in the strike.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized
to talk to the media.
Pakistani Taliban officials were not immediately available for comment, but
low-level fighters have dismissed rumors of Mehsud's death in recent days as
propaganda.
The drone strike that targeted Mehsud came about two weeks after a deadly
suicide bombing he helped orchestrate killed seven CIA employees at a remote
base across the border in Afghanistan. Mehsud appeared in a video issued after
the bombing sitting beside the Jordanian man who carried out the attack.
The bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, said he carried out the attack in
retribution for the death of former Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud —
Hakimullah Mehsud's predecessor — in a U.S. drone strike last August.
The U.S. refuses to talk about the covert CIA-run drone program in Pakistan but
officials have said privately that the strikes have killed several senior
Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders.
Pakistani officials publicly protest the strikes as violations of the country's
sovereignty, but U.S. officials say privately they support the program,
especially when it targets militants like Mehsud who the government believes is
a threat to the state.
Mehsud, who has the reputation as a particularly ruthless militant, took over
leadership of the Pakistani Taliban soon after Baitullah Mehsud's death.
The 28 year-old militant leader has focused most of his attacks against targets
inside Pakistan, but his men have also been blamed for attacking U.S. and NATO
supply convoys traveling through the country en route to Afghanistan.
Hakimullah Mehsud first appeared in public to journalists in November 2008, when
he offered to take reporters in Orakzai on a ride in a U.S. Humvee taken from a
supply truck headed to Afghanistan. He was the Pakistani Taliban's regional
commander in the Orakzai, Khyber and Mohmand tribal areas before taking over the
organization.
He has taken responsibility for a wave of brazen strikes inside Pakistan,
including the bombing of the Pearl Continental hotel in the northwestern city of
Peshawar last June and the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore
earlier that year.
The group stepped up its attacks after the Pakistani army invaded its stronghold
of South Waziristan in mid-October. More than 600 people have been killed in
attacks throughout the country since the ground offensive was launched.
Authorities have said Mehsud has been behind threats to foreign embassies in
Islamabad, and there is a $120,000 bounty on his head.
* * * * *
Who gets the bounty cash?
"Roger, Alleycat. Copy BDA. I am RTB at this time."