Posted on 08/27/2009 3:49:50 PM PDT by Cindy
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 of the Taliban.
Any attack would likely take place inside Pakistan. A successful attack would help cement Hakeemullah's position as the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban.
Hakeemullah is one of the Taliban's most able military commanders who also has the ability to conduct large-scale terror attacks. His forces were behind the capture of an entire company of Pakistani Army soldiers as well as the campaign against NATO supplies moving through Khyber and Peshawar.
Hakeemullah is also closely linked to Punjabi terror groups and al Qaeda. Members of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammed, al Qaeda, and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas banded together and formed a group called the Fedayeen-e-Islam.
The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is an anti-Shia terror group with an extensive network in Pakistan. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi serves as the muscle for al Qaeda and Taliban terror attacks.
Jaish-e-Mohammed is a Punjab-based terror group that was formed to wage jihad against the Indians in Kashmir."
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/08/new_taliban_chief_th.php
(Excerpt) Read more at longwarjournal.org ...
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/08/us_strikes_taliban_c_2.php
“US strikes Taliban compound in South Waziristan, 8 killed”
By BILL ROGGIO
August 27, 2009 8:05 AM
SNIPPET: “Unmanned US strike aircraft fired missiles at a Taliban compound in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal area of South Waziristan.
Three Hellfire missiles struck in the town of Kanigoram near Wana, a known stronghold of the Taliban forces under the command of Mullah Nazir. Eight Taliban fighters and possibly some Uzbek fighters were reported killed, but no high value Taliban or al Qaeda targets have been reported killed at this time.
Waliur Rehman Mehsud, the new leader of the Taliban in South Waziristan, was the target of the strike, a US intelligence source told The Long War Journal.
Kanigoram is a known Taliban stronghold. The US conducted an airstrike there on April 29, 2009. Ten Taliban fighters were killed in missile strikes on a Taliban safe house and a vehicle.
Fourth strike this month
Today’s attack in South Waziristan is only the fourth strike in August as well as the fourth since July 17. The last attack took place on Aug. 20 in North Waziristan. The target was Siraj Haqqani, the powerful military commander of the Haqqani Network. During the first 17 days of July, the US conducted seven airstrikes in Pakistan.
The US has shifted the focus of its covert air campaign in Pakistan’s tribal areas almost exclusively to targeting Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan. Of the 35 US strikes carried out in Pakistan this year, 25 have taken place in South Waziristan. The next US airstrike will match last year’s total of 36 airstrikes in Pakistan.
Baitullah was killed in the Aug. 5 strike that also killed his wife and several members of his bodyguard. He was replaced as the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan by Hakeemullah Mehsud, while Waliur Rehman Mehsud took control of the Taliban in the Mehsud tribal areas in South Waziristan.
Background on US strikes against al Qaeda and Taliban networks in northwestern Pakistan”
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/08/us_strikes_taliban_c_2.php
Wouldn't be much of a Taliban chief if he didn't would he?
Hey Hakeemullah, here’s some advice: don’t buy any green bananas.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/08/suicide_bomber_kills_11.php
“Suicide bomber kills 22 border guards at Torkham crossing in Pakistan”
By BILL ROGGIO
August 27, 2009 1:27 PM
SNIPPET: “A Taliban suicide bomber killed 22 Pakistani border guards at the main crossing to Afghanistan in the first attack since Hakeemullah Mehsud took command of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. The new leader of the Pakistani Taliban made good on yesterday’s threat to retaliate for the death of the group’s former leader, Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US airstrike on Aug. 5.
A teenaged suicide bomber directly targeted border security forces as they gathered for the Iftar meal at their barracks at the Torkham crossing in the Khyber tribal agency.
“The guards were about to break their fast when a teenaged boy carrying a bottle of Pepsi walked toward them and blew himself up,” a witness to the attack told Reuters.
While no group has claimed credit for the attack, Taliban forces under the command of Hakeemullah are the prime suspect. Between November 2008 and April 2009, Hakeemullah’s fighters destroyed more than 700 vehicles and shipping containers in Khyber and Peshawar, and forced the closure of the Khyber Pass six times.
Just yesterday Hakeemullah threatened to avenge the death of Baitullah, and specifically mentioned the United States as the primary target.
“We will take revenge and soon,” said Hakeemullah, who was chosen last weekend to lead the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. “We will give our reply to this drone attack to America.””
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/08/suicide_bomber_kills_11.php
"“The guards were about to break their fast when a teenaged boy carrying a bottle of Pepsi walked toward them and blew himself up,” a witness to the attack told Reuters."
Ya' don't hold a candle to the Messiah in Chief.
other job descriptions: Short timer, very temporary
New Taliban chief threatens US
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“New” eh??? Care to tell us Achmed what happed to the PREVIOUS Taliban chiefs?
I KILL YOU !!!!
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 of the Taliban.I'm sure our armed forces will be giving Hakeemullah help reaching the next rung on his career ladder.
im so sick of the P.O.S being called ‘able military commanders’...
patton, eisenhower, mccarthur, et al, were true military commanders....
they didnt hide behind woman and children and kill woman and children while they hide and do no fighting on their own...
please...
I thought al-Qaeda had a trademark on the expression “Dire Revenge(tm)”.
UPDATE to post no. 5:
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/08/pakistan_taliban_tak.php
“Pakistan Taliban take credit for Khyber suicide attack”
By BILL ROGGIO
August 28, 2009 10:43 AM
SNIPPET: “The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s deadly suicide attack at the Torkham border crossing in Khyber. The attack killed 22 Pakistani border guards as they prepared to break fast for the Ramadan meal.
Tariq Azam, the new spokesman for Hakeemullah Mehsud and the Pakistani Taliban, said the attack was aimed at the US and was a response to the assassination of former leader Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed after an Aug. 5 airstrike in South Waziristan.
“We claim responsibility for the blast,” Tariq told AFP.
“This is our first response since the death of our chief Baitullah Mehsud,” Tariq continued. “We will continue similar attacks in the future also.”
The Taliban conducted the attack at Torkham because the crossing is used by the US to move supplies into Afghanistan. “The victims of the suicide attack were all those supporting the United States,” Tariq said. “Anybody supporting the US is our enemy.”
Earlier a group called the Abdullah Azzam Brigade took credit for the attack. The Abdullah Azzam Brigade is based in Arakzai, and is one of the units commanded by Hakeemullah Mehsud.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigade is named after the influential jihadi ideologue who co-founded al Qaeda along with Osama bin Laden. Its members include Taliban fighters from the Arakzai-based Commander Tariq Group as well as Arabs from the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
Zawahiri urges Pakistanis to fight the government
The same day the Taliban took credit for the Khyber attack, Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s second in command, released a tape on the Internet urging Pakistanis to battle their government and their Army.”
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/08/pakistan_taliban_tak.php
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