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SNIPPET: "Al Qaeda commander continues to pose a threat to U.S. and South Asian security as Pakistan’s military and intelligence services look the other way” IPT News June 22, 2010 SNIPPET: “Top Al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri poses a major threat to U.S. interests both at home and abroad. Described by intelligence agencies “as the most effective, dangerous and successful guerrilla leader in the world,” Kashmiri heads Al Qaeda’s military operations wing. He figures prominently in two recent high-profile terrorism indictments issued in Chicago. But Kashmiri remains free in South Asia and in control of a renowned Al Qaeda terror...

A commander reported to have replaced Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud has denied he has taken control of the terror group and states that Hakeemullah is still alive. "Hakeemullah was neither killed nor I have been appointed acting emir (chief) of the Taliban," Maulvi Noor Jamal, a local commander in the Arakzai tribal agency who has been rumored to have succeeded Hakkemullah, told Reuters today. Maulvi Noor Jamal, who is also known as Maulvi Toofan, was first reported to have taken over for the Taliban by The News on Feb. 2. Another Taliban leader, who was not identified, also told Reuters...

The leader of the Pakistani Taliban release another audiotape denying that he was killed in Thursday's airstrike along the border between North and South Waziristan. “Today, on the 16th of January, I am saying it again -- I am alive, I am OK, I am not injured... when the drone strike took place, I was not present in the area at that time,” Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan said in a recorded statement that was played for reporters. Hakeemullah provided a specific date to confirm he was alive. “After the audio I released...

SNIPPET: "Hakeemullah Mehsud (left), the Leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. and Humam Khalil Muhammed Abu Mulal al Balawi (right), the suicide bomber who carried out the attack at Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan. The al Qaeda operative who killed seven US CIA operatives and guards, and a Jordanian intelligence official, was on a martyr's videotape with the leader of the Pakistani Taliban. Humam Khalil Muhammed Abu Mulal al Balawi, a Jordanian Islamist who was thought to have been turned against al Qaeda, appeared on a videotape with Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of...

The new leader of the Paistani Taliban threatened to strike back at the US for killing Baitullah Mehsud in a Predator attack earlier last month. "We will take revenge and soon," Hakeemullah Mehsud, who was chosen to lead the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan last weekend, told AFP. "We will give our reply to this drone attack to America." The Taliban claimed Baitullah died on Aug. 23 of wounds suffered during the Aug. 5 airstrike that also killed his second wife and seven of his bodyguards. Hakeemullah and Baitullah were cousins; Baitullah helped Hakeemullah quickly rise through the ranks...

The likely death of Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud has reportedly initiated a meeting of the Taliban shura to choose his successor. Hakeemullah Mehsud and Qari Hussain Mehsud, both cousins of Baitullah, have long been thought to be the main rivals for leadership of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, or the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, the group Baitullah formed in December 2007. Others mentioned include Waliur Rahman, a Taliban commander in Bajaur, and Azmatullah Mehsud, a close aide to Baitullah. Hakeemullah is reported to be in the lead to fill Baitullah's role as the emir of the Pakistani Taliban, according to...