Local residents say an unmanned drone, which was in the area, fired the missile at the house
http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en68389&F_catID=&f_type=source
Nek buried in silence
WANA - Former Taliban commander Nek Mohammad along with other nine militants, including five close associates, was killed late Thursday night in an air strike by a number of jet fighters and gunship helicopters at one of the hideouts of foreign militants at Doog village.
According to the sources, a precision-guided missile hit the house while Nek Mohammad was giving an interview. During the last several days, he gave frequent interviews to a number of electronic media networks.
Local residents say an unmanned drone, which was in the area, fired the missile at the house, while the ISPR chief General Shukat Sultan is reported by BBC as saying: "We were tracking him down and he was killed (Thursday) night by our hand."
"A high-intensity explosive material went off with a big bang when Nek was talking on his phone inside the house," an eye-witness told The Nation.
"It was a laser-guided missile that hit the hideout at 9:40 pm," told some of the tribesmen present on the occasion.
According to reports from Kalushah, Nek Mohammad was being interviewed by a foreign media agency through a satellite phone when his hideout was attacked. He sustained serious injuries and was rushed to the headquarter hospital where he succumbed to his injuries at 2.00 am. His body was later shifted to his demolished house at Kalushah.
Nek Mohammad, who belonged to Ahmadzai Wazir tribes of South Waziristan Agency, was laid to rest Friday morning in his ancestral graveyard at village Kalushah near Azam Warsak. His Namaz-i-Janaza was attended by around 15,000 tribesmen, however, none of his top aides was present on the occasion.
Hundreds of his supporters and colleagues, known as mujahideen, were present during the funeral procession where they remained silent spectators, said sources from the area.
According to the unconfirmed reports, five of the dead are from the clans of Ahmadzai Wazir while identity of four others is yet to be ascertained. However, it is confirmed that these four are foreigners who were present in the house of one Sher Zaman where they, along with Nek Mohammad, were invited to a dinner. A number of family members of Sher Zaman are also said to have been killed in the attack.
While the ISPR said security forces killed six miscreants including Nek Mohammad and his two associates.
It is pertinent to mention that close aides of Nek Mohammad, such as his uncles Mohammad Sharif and Noor Islam along with Maulvi Abbas, Abdul Aziz, Javed, Abbas, Eida Khan and Dawar Khan, fearing attack on them, did not turn up at the village for the burial. Security forces have cordoned off the entire area including all the routes leading to it.
More such attacks were also launched at other parts of Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan Agency, Thursday night by the government security forces. Unconfirmed reports estimate over 50 casualties in these attacks, for which over 25 jet fighters and gunship helicopters landed at the Wana airport since Thursday morning.
The overall situation in Wana and its surrounding areas was quiet on Friday while the personnel of military and para-military troops were confined to their check-posts and barracks.
Nek Mohammad, who belonged to the Yargulkhel clan of Ahmadzai Wazir tribes, became popular for extending cooperation to a large number of Al-Qaeda fugitives after the Taliban regime?s collapse in Kabul in November 2001.
Nek had crossed into Afghanistan in 1997 and joined the then commander of Kargha Garrison, Maulvi Gul Mohammad who later was killed in an armed attack by the US-led coalition forces in north of Kabul.
Director General ISPR Major General Shaukat Sultan said the security forces were targeting suspected hideouts of the militants and also tracking the movements of Nek Muhammad. He said the forces targeted a house Thursday night where they suspected that Nek Muhammad and other militants were taking shelter.
He said as a result of the firing, Nek Muhammad and two of his associates were killed.
Major General Shaukat Sultan said that the government hopes that the miscreants would accept its amnesty offer in which they have been asked to surrender unconditionally and the foreign elements should get themselves registered.
He said the government has accelerated the political process and hoped that normalcy would return very soon to the area.
A drone. Good.
"Nek Mohammad along with other nine militants, including five close associates, was killed " (*were killed)
Didn't realize they got so many. Good deal. Doesn't say to whom he was giving an interview. I guess we assume the interviewer is also deceased?
"none of his top aides was present on the occasion."
hmmm.....wonder why? lol.
There are several things in this article that catch my attention. This is one of them:
"A high-intensity explosive material went off with a big bang when Nek was talking on his phone inside the house," an eye-witness told The Nation.
1. I've never heard of a high-intensity explosive material going off that DID NOT produce a big bang. :-)
2. The man couldn't leave his phone alone. That was his undoing.
3. Can you imagine what the guy on the other end of the phone thought? Is his ear still working?