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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”

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.””