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ISLAMABAD – The Pakistani army entered the last of three militant strongholds targeted by a major offensive in the northwest on Friday, as gunmen wounded a senior army officer and a soldier in the capital. The operation in South Waziristan, the main Taliban and al-Qaida sanctuary in Pakistan, has sparked a wave of retaliatory attacks that have killed about 300 civilians and security forces in the past month. The shooting in Islamabad was the third such attack in about two weeks. The militants hope the attacks will weaken the army's resolve as it pushes deeper into the isolated, mountainous region...

ISLAMABAD – Soldiers captured the strategically located hometown of Pakistan's Taliban chief Saturday after fierce fighting, officials said, the army's first major prize as it pushes deeper into a militant stronghold along the Afghan border. A suspected U.S. missile killed 22 people elsewhere in the northwest, but apparently missed a top Taliban figure, authorities said. Pakistan's eight-day-old offensive in the Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold of South Waziristan is considered its most critical test yet in the campaign to stop the spread of violent Islamist extremism in this nuclear-armed, U.S.-allied country. The army operation has prompted a wave of retaliatory attacks...

Bodies of six suspected Taliban militants have been found in Pakistan's north-western Kurram tribal region, officials say. The bodies were found in Kurut area, on the border of Kurram and Hangu district in North West Frontier Province. Correspondents say this is the first time that bodies of militants have been found outside of the Swat region. Meanwhile, a senior Taliban commander has been killed in clashes with troops in the Swat valley, officials say. The commander, Nisar, also known as Ghazi Baba, was killed in an offensive near the town of Mingora, they said. He was a senior deputy to...

The Pakistani Taliban has said it launched Monday's attack on the UN World Food Programme offices in the capital Islamabad, killing five people. A Taliban spokesman said that the international agency was targeted because their work was "not in the interest of Muslims." A suicide bomber dressed in military uniform blew himself up in the office. The Taliban had promised revenge for the killing of their leader Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone strike in August. The Taliban spokesman who called himself Azam Tariq said that the UN and foreign aid agencies were "infidels." The group has been behind a...

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The new chief of Pakistani Taliban militants who U.S. and Pakistani officials said might be dead has surfaced to meet journalists in his stronghold of South Waziristan. Hakimullah Mehsud, who became Pakistani Taliban chief after his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a U.S. missile strike in early August, looked healthy in pictures broadcast by Pakistan's Dawn Television on Monday. Sailab Mehsud, one of the journalists who met the militant chief on Sunday, said Hakimullah had vowed revenge for Baitullah's killing. Pakistani and U.S. intelligence officials had said they believed that Hakimullah might have been killed in...

SARAROGHA, Pakistan – Flanked by heavily armed fighters, the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban sat on a blue blanket, amiable and relaxed as he cracked jokes and mixed in threats of vengeance for deadly U.S. airstrikes. One day later, a suicide bomber attacked a U.N. office in Islamabad. Hakimullah Mehsud met with reporters Sunday for the first time since winning control of the militant group, quashing speculation that he had been slain in a succession struggle following the killing of his predecessor in a U.S. drone attack. He also described his group's relationship to al-Qaida as one of "love...

The Taliban in Pakistan have released a video confirming that their former leader Baitullah Mehsud is dead. A video received by the BBC shows the body of the former head of Pakistan's largest Taliban group lying in a room. It is not clear where it was taken. Mr Mehsud was killed on 6 August in the tribal region of South Waziristan in a missile attack by a suspected US drone.

The brother of Pakistan's new Taliban leader has been killed in a clash with security forces in the north-west of the country, local officials say. Kalimullah Mehsud was killed in battle on Monday after troops responded to a Taliban rocket attack on a military base in North Waziristan. Tribal sources confirmed his death. He has since been buried in his village.

A missile fired from a US drone aircraft Tuesday killed five suspected Taliban in a strike on a militant hideout in Pakistan's restive northwest tribal belt, security officials said. "A missile from a US drone fired on a compound of local Taliban commander Irfan Mehsud killed five militants and injured six," said a security official in the area. A local administrative official confirmed the incident and toll. The attack occurred in the lawless tribal region of South Waziristan, a Taliban bolthole where Washington says Islamist fighters are hiding out and planning attacks on Western troops stationed in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command, has sung the praises of former Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud on a videotape produced by As Sahab and distributed on jihadi forums. Zawahiri used Baitullah's death to praise the Taliban's fight against NATO and the US in Afghanistan. But Zawahiri especially focused on Baitullah's role in the attempt to smash the Pakistani state. The following translation is a portion of Zawahiri's tape: Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2009/09/zawahiri_eulogizes_baitullah_m.php

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...

Two commanders of the Pakistani Taliban acknowledged Tuesday that the militants' top leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed by a U.S. missile strike. It was the first time the militants acknowledged Mehsud's death, first reported shortly after the CIA missile strike Aug. 5 near the Afghan border. ... "He was wounded. He got the wounds in a drone strike and he was martyred two days ago," Hakimullah Mehsud said. Rehman later repeated the same statement.

The leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, is dead, two of his senior commanders have told the BBC. It is the first time that the militant group has acknowledged his death.The commanders, Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman, said that he had died of injuries sustained in a US missile strike earlier this month.Hakimullah has been named as successor to Baitullah Mehsud, who was Pakistan's most feared militant, accused of scores of suicide bombings and other attacks. Hakimullah Mehsud, who is believed to be in his late 20s, said Baitullah Mehsud had been critically wounded by the missile strike but...

Pakistan's Taliban movement has named a new leader, its deputy head Maulvi Faqir Mohammed has told the BBC. He said Hakimullah Mehsud, a close associate of ex-leader Baitullah Mehsud, had been unanimously appointed at a meeting in northern Pakistan. Pakistani and US officials believe Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike in early August. However the Taliban continue to insist that he is still alive, despite their decision to appoint a new leader. Hakimullah Mehsud, who is in his late 20s, is a military chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) organisation formed by Beitullah Mehsud in an effort...

Militants loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban leader reportedly killed in an American airstrike, attacked a stronghold of a tribal warlord allied with the government Wednesday, leaving as many as 90 fighters dead.

WASHINGTON — Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed last week in a CIA drone attack while getting a leg massage on the roof of his father-in-law's house, CNN said Monday, citing an unnamed US official. A US counterterrorism official told AFP, meanwhile, that "there are strong indications (Mehsud) is dead" following a drone attack. "No one is expecting him home for dinner tonight," the official said. US President Barack Obama is being told Mehsud was killed after a "dramatic escalation" of nine unmanned drones specifically targeting the Taliban leader in recent weeks, the US official told CNN television. On Wednesday...

Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed last week in a CIA drone attack while getting a leg massage on the roof of his father-in-law's house, CNN said Monday, citing an unnamed US official.

As reports are confirming the elimination of Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, including Pakistani sources to al Jazeera, a growing debate is widening in the international media about the "value" of that event. Some analyses are using terms such as "turning point," while other are describing it as "lethal hit against Pakistan's Taliban." Evidently, authorities in Pakistan and the United States are logically rejoicing for the fact that a tough foe is gone. Intelligence estimates will soon tell how important what that successful drone and what would the field consequences be in the next weeks, months and maybe a year...

The Pakistani Taliban's leader Baitullah Mehsud is gravely ill, his top aide has told the BBC. Maulan Nur Syed denied this was linked in any way to claims Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US missile strike on Wednesday in a remote tribal area. Both the US and Pakistan earlier said their intelligence suggested Baitullah Mehsud was killed in the attack. There were also reports of a major gun battle between potential successors to Baitullah Mehsud after the strike.

The raging conflict in Pakistan does, if one tries hard, seem to have some curious aspects. Take the confusion that often surrounds the announced death of a warlord or the other. More than once someone the authorities have declared to be dead has resurfaced most calmly. It does rather seem like despite all that hi-tech gadgetry employed by the US to “assist” Pakistan, they can’t quite always figure out just who they fired that missile at. Or, perhaps, one is being uncharitable. Given the terrain, suited for guerrilla warfare and with all the bearded, turbaned chaps looking virtually like carbon...

A Taliban leader with a $5 million American reward on his head is thought to be dead from an drone attack in South Waziristan, Pakistan, but a friend says that report is “ridiculous.” Baitullah Mehsud is alive, or he may be dead. See update below. Members of the Mehsud tribe consider Baitullah Mehsud their leader. He is believed to command as many as 20,000 Taliban. So far, reports of his probable death by drone strike have not been disproved. In other words, he has sent no message to prove that he is alive and the West has no concrete evidence...

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: Hakimullah Mehsud and another Taliban leader Wali-ur-Rehman have been killed in an armed clash erupted during the Tehreek’s Shura meeting. At the meeting Hakimullah Mehsud was appointed as TTP Chief.

Here is a report from NBC's Richard Engel reporting from Afghanistan where he says sources tell him that two Taliban Leaders have engaged in a gun fight to see which one will succeed former leader Baitullah Mehsud, who was believed to have been killed in a U.S. Drone attack on Wednesday. Sources tell Engel both candidates were KILLED in the gunfight, but that has not yet been confirmed. How good would that be if confirmed?! Below is a video report on the drone attack believed to have killed Baitullah Mehsud, who was the top Taliban Leader in Pakistan . ....

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: Spokesman of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Hakimullah Mehsud and another Taliban leader Wali-ur-Rehman have been killed in an armed clash erupted during the Tehreek’s Shura meeting, Geo TV reported Saturday. At the meeting Hakimullah Mehsud was appointed as TTP Chief after the reported killing of Baitullah Mehsud, the state media reported. The agenda of the meeting was to appoint successor of Baitullah Mehsud, sources said.

Reports from Pakistan say one of the country's most-wanted Taliban leaders is dead — killed by a rocket attack from a U.S. drone. If confirmed, the death of Baitullah Mehsud could be a significant blow to the Islamist militants linked under his umbrella group, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. "There's every indication that it is true," says Daniel Markey, an expert on South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations. "And it could be quite significant." Markey says Mehsud was "above all, the face of the Pakistani Taliban, which was becoming a more serious collective organization, one that U.S. officials saw as being...

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...

Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who led a violent campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations against the Pakistani government, has been killed in a US missile strike, a Taliban commander and aide to Mehsud said Friday. ‘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. Earlier on Friday, three Pakistani intelligence officials said the militant commander had been killed in the missile strike and his body had been buried

Pakistan's most wanted man, Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, has been killed by a US missile.Kafayat Ullah, an aide to Baitullah, told AP by telephone on Friday that his leader had been killed along with his second wife by a US missile.Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Quresh said the government was seeking "ground verification".Taliban leaders have gathered in S Waziristan to choose a successor, local sources have told the BBC. Three names are under consideration: Hakimullah Mehsud, Maulana Azmatullah and Wali-ur-Rehman. The missile fired by the US drone hit the home of the Taliban chief's father-in-law, Malik Ikramuddin, in the Zangarha...

There is a strong likelihood that Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed along with his wife and bodyguards in a missile attack two days ago, 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.’ 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...

Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud may have been killed in a U.S. drone attack, a U.S. official said Friday. "There's reason to believe Mehsud may be dead, but there's no confirmation at this time," the official said. Mehsud's second wife was killed early Wednesday in a suspected U.S. drone attack, according to intelligence sources and relatives. The unmanned aerial vehicle targeted the home of Mehsud's father-in-law, Mulvi Ikram ud Din, and dropped two missiles on the residence in northwestern Pakistan, an intelligence official said. Mehsud's second wife was one of two people killed in the strike, according to the sources....

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – 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...

PESHAWAR - At least three persons including wife and brother of Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud were killed and several others injured when US drone missiles hit a house in Zangara, in Sara-rogha tehsil of Ladha, S Waziristan.Four missiles hit the house of Ikramuddin, father-in-law of Baitullah Mehsud. As per local residents, wife and brother of Baitullah Mehsud were among the killed persons. They also said that Baitullah was seen in the house on Tuesday last.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A missile believed to have been fired by a U.S. drone struck the house of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud's father-in-law Wednesday, killing at least one woman and two militants, a security official and a relative said. U.S. missile attacks on Mehsud territory in the South Waziristan tribal region have become more frequent in the past month and Pakistan has also bombarded the militant stronghold with air raids and medium range artillery. Mehsud's whereabouts were not known at the time the time of the attack, which occurred shortly before 1.00 a.m. (1900 GMT Tuesday) on the...

Consolidating military gains in Swat and worries about Taliban spillover from south Afghanistan are clouding Pakistan's offensive against the country's most wanted warlord, analysts say. In mid-June, the military said it had received orders and was preparing to launch an offensive against Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud and his network in the South Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan. Troops have sealed off much of the eastern border between South Waziristan and areas under government control, and carried out air raids in what the military calls softening up for a full-scale ground operation. Pakistan says it has eliminated the Taliban in...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – Suspected U.S. drones launched two missile attacks on Taliban targets in the South Waziristan tribal region on Wednesday, killing at least 45 militants in the latest in a barrage of strikes close to the Afghan border, intelligence officials said. The army said the top Taliban commander in another area of the northwest, the scenic Swat Valley, was wounded in a Pakistani airstrike. It gave no more details. South Waziristan lies close to the Afghan border and is the stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. Pakistan's military is also bombing and firing mortars at insurgent...

ISLAMABAD — A Taliban faction leader who criticized the militant group's Pakistani head over attacks that killed civilians was fatally shot Tuesday, reportedly by one of his own guards. Dr. Mahmood Khan Bitani told The Associated Press that he pronounced Qari Zainuddin dead on arrival at a hospital in the northwest town of Dera Ismail Khan with gunshot wounds to the head and chest. Baz Mohammad, an aide of the militant leader who also was wounded, said a guard barged into a room at Zainuddin's compound after morning prayers and opened fire. He accused Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud of...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A gunman shot dead a rival of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud on Tuesday, dealing a potential blow to a government plan to defeat al Qaeda ally Mehsud. The murder came as the military prepares an offensive against Mehsud, who has been accused of a string of bomb attacks, including the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.

Senior al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban leaders are reported to have met with Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud to advise him to move his group's operations into Afghanistan and halt attacks against the Pakistani state. Several meetings were said to have been held last week after an 11-man delegation of al Qaeda and Taliban heavy hitters arrived in Waziristan to deliver a request from Mullah Omar, the Amir al Mumineen, or the leader of the faithful in Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to a report in The Nation. The Taliban dispatched Sirajuddin Haqqani, the powerful military commander of the Haqqani Network,...

WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani forces used aircraft and artillery on Sunday as they stepped up an assault aimed at eliminating Pakistani Taliban commander Baituallah Mehsud. Security forces have secured much of the scenic Swat Valley, northwest of Islamabad, in the past six weeks and the military plans to extend its offensive to al Qaeda ally Mehsud, holed up in the South Waziristan region near the Afghan border. The military action came after Taliban gains raised fears for the future of nuclear-armed Pakistan, a vital ally for the United States as it strives to defeat al Qaeda and stabilize Afghanistan....

Taliban head 'must be eliminated' The Taliban have stepped up their attacks in Pakistan in recent weeks Pakistan's army chief has said the head of the Taliban in Pakistan "must be eliminated".General Ashfaq Kayani said Baitullah Mehsud, who has his stronghold in the tribal district of South Waziristan, was "not fighting for Islam". His comments come as a provincial governor said an offensive to target militants was imminent. Neither man said when such an assault might begin. Baitullah Mehsud's group is blamed for a string of deadly attacks in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan has launched a "full-fledged" assault against Taliban in the lawless northwest tribal belt and will continue until all militants are eliminated, the provincial governor said Sunday. Security forces are already locked in a seven-week-long campaign against the insurgents in three other northwest districts, and last week the offensive spread into the semi-autonomous tribal zone along the Afghan border. "The government has launched a full-fledged operation in the tribal areas including Waziristan," Owais Ahmad Ghani, governor of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), told a press conference in Islamabad. "Operations will continue until the elimination of the...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – A suspected U.S. missile strike killed at least five people Sunday in a tribal region where Pakistan's top Taliban commander is based, intelligence officials said, breaking a lull in such attacks and posing a test for growing anti-Taliban sentiment in the country. The strike came as violence raged elsewhere in the volatile northwest region bordering Afghanistan: a bombing at a market killed at least eight people, while officials said clashes between the Taliban and security forces killed at least 20 militants in a tribal region supposedly cleared of insurgents months ago. ... The U.S. rarely...

Note: The following text is a quote: Taliban turn children into live bombs No worries: once they take over Pakistan, Obama will sit down and talk with them without preconditions, and straighten everything out. "Taliban turn children into live bombs," from the Daily Times, April 23 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm): TANK: Haneef Mehsud was a normal teenager who spent most of his time hanging out with friends and playing cricket before he was recruited by the Taliban and turned into a suicide bomber. Less than a month after his 17th birthday in late 2008, Haneef killed two soldiers when he...

Dramatic daylight terror raids on a university may have been linked to a plot to blow up a shopping centre or nightclub, police fear. Students at Liverpool John Moores University watched in shock yesterday as two men were hauled outside and forced to the ground by armed police.  Witnesses said the duo  -  students at the university's Business School  -  were wearing combat trousers and hiking jackets, and claimed there were rumours of 'a bomb' on the premises.  (edit) The raid was one of a series carried out simultaneously across the North-West in which 12 suspects believed to be...

Reuters published a story today, April 4, detailing some nonsense from a Taliban terrorist who has claimed "responsibility" for Friday's shooting rampage in Binghamtom, New York. The question that comes to mind is why? Why did Reuters imagine this idiotic claim, this obvious lie, was worth reporting to the world? Does Reuters not have the good sense God gave a door knob? Why would Reuters pass this Taliban propaganda off as news? From Peshawar, Pakistan, Reuters reports that this Taliban leader wannabe has said that the murderous rampage perpetrated by an unhinged Vietnamese immigrant was done by his "men." This...

Last week the Pakistani Taliban threatened an attack on the White House. Today they have claimed responsibility for yesterday's brutal attack in Binghamton NY.

Reuters published a story today, April 4, detailing some nonsense from a Taliban terrorist who has claimed "responsibility" for Friday's shooting rampage in Binghamtom, New York. The question that comes to mind is why? Why did Reuters imagine this idiotic claim, this obvious lie, was worth reporting to the world? Does Reuters not have the good sense God gave a door knob? Why would Reuters pass this Taliban propaganda off as news? From Peshawar, Pakistan, Reuters reports that this Taliban leader wannabe has said that the murderous rampage perpetrated by an unhinged Vietnamese immigrant was done by his "men." This...

Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud has claimed responsibility for attack on a New York immigration services centre. He said, a Pakistani and another man carried it out. On Friday, a gunman has killed at least thirteen people at an American immigration service centre at Binghamton in New York State. A number of other people were injured, some of them seriously, and hostages were seized in the incident which lasted several hours. Local police say the gunman has been found dead and all the hostages have been released. The New York governor said it was a tragic day for the state....

A Pakistani Taliban militant leader has claimed responsibility for the attack on a U.S. immigration center in New York state in which 13 people were killed, Reuters reported.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani Taliban militant leader Baituallah Mehsud claimed on Saturday responsibility for an attack on a U.S. immigration center in New York state in which 13 people were killed. "I accept responsibility. They were my men. I gave them orders in reaction to U.S. drone attacks," Mehsud told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.