Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud dead: Qureshi

Rezaul H Laskar

Islamabad, Aug 7 (PTI) Striking a body blow to
Taliban, missiles fired from US drone killed Pakistan's most
wanted terrorist Baitullah Mehsud and his wife sheltering in
his father-in-law's house in Makeen area of South Waziristan.

Quoting intelligence inputs, Pakistan Foreign Minister
Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, "authorities are going to the site
of the missile strike to verify the Taliban leader's death."

"According to my information, this news is correct and
he (Mehsud) has been taken out," he said.

"Our reports are based on the internal intelligence
inputs. We will be 100 per cent sure when we get the physical
verification," Qureshi told reporters on the sidelines of an
official function here.

The US drone fired two missiles at the compound of
Mehsud's father-in-law, a cleric named Malik Ikramuddin on
Wednesday. Earlier reports had said Ikramuddin's daughter, who
is Mehsud's second wife, was killed along with some militants.

Though Pakistani ministers and US officials were
trying to get the verification, TV channels quoted sources in
the tribal areas as saying that the 'Shura' or supreme council
of the Pakistani Taliban had met on Thursday and would gather
again Friday evening, possibly to chose Mehsud's successor.

Taliban might own up 35-year-old Mehsud's death only
after choosing a new chief for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan,
an umbrella of militant factions.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik also said government has
received information that Mehsud was killed in a drone attack
in the tribal belt, but we are awaiting official confirmation.

Malik made it clear that whether Mehsud was dead or
alive, the military will continue its action till Taliban's
whole network is destroyed.

Mehsud's death is big success for both Pakistan and the
US, who has announced a five million USD bounty on his head.
Pakistan had also offered a bounty of USD 615,000.

The burly al-Qaeda-linked warlord has been the target
of an intense manhunt for months and has reportedly narrowly
escaped previous attacks.

TV channels quoted intelligence officials as saying
that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief charged with plotting
the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and
a spate of suicide attacks across the country had been killed
in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) missile attack and
his body buried nearby the village of Nardusai deep inside
Taliban control area.

Dawn News channel reported that Mehsud's funeral
prayers were held in Narkosa village.

In Mehsud's death, US missile strikes have found their
one of the most high-value targets till date. According to
security experts, the Taliban commanders has deputies who
could take his place. But whether a new leader could wreck as
much havoc as Mehsud did could depend largely on how much
pressure Pakistan military continues to put on the network.

Reports said Hakeemullah Mehsud, a brutal militant
commander now based in Orakzai Agency, was being tipped as the
most likely successor of Mehsud. PTI RHL
SDE
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