Posted on 01/14/2010 6:39:57 AM PST by milwguy
Leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakeemullah Mehsud, who had accepted responsibility for the deadly suicide attack on a CIA base camp in Afghanistan, appears to have been killed in a drone attack in South Waziristan, a senior security official said. The attack has left at least ten people dead, amongst them are three militant commanders, the official said.
“It is immaterial to say how many have been killed in the attack. The important thing for us is whether Hakeemullah is amongst those killed”, the official said, requesting he not be named.
He said that the TTP chief was the target of the drone attack. “He has probably been killed.”
The Taliban have denied the TTP chief has been killed. TTP spokesman, Azam Tariq said that he and Hakeemullah both were alive and safe. "We were in Shaktoi but not at the compound which has been struck", he told a reporter in the region in a satellite phone call.
(Excerpt) Read more at dawn.com ...
Hakeemullah took over from Baitullah Mehsud, who we took out with a drone last fall. Wonder who will be volunteering to replace him?
Now carpet bomb the area
Maybe they can send a drone Pelosi’s way.
Ooh, say did you see, the drone after thee?
I agree with you..I think it’s seven dronezaps in the last 11 days...great job CIA. Now let’s keep up this pace in North Wazoo until we take down the Haqqani network, Gulbuddin’s murdering b*st*ards, and then move on to Quetta and dismantle the one-eyed Omar’s bunch of cut-throats.
Also, it should be pointed out that the South Wazoo talibs under Baitullah Mehsud denied for weeks that their vaunted criminal leader, Baitullah, was taking the eternal deathnap, after being vaporized by a CIA dronezap. The North Wazoos are taking a page from the Baitullah crowd, and denying the obvious. Talk about denial being more than a river in Egybt.
Excuse me but it’s EGYPT.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning...lol.
CIA drone strike hits Hakimullah Mehsud compound
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Pakistani leaders publicly criticise the drone strikes saying they infringe on the country’s sovereignty, but privately security officials acknowledge they have proved to be very effective.
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Dawn Editorial
Monday, 11 Jan, 2010
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, left, sits with his comrade Waliur Rehman during his meeting with media in Sararogha of Pakistani tribal area of South Waziristan along the Afghanistan border on Oct. 4, 2009. – Photo by AP.
A video purporting to show a Jordanian suicide bomber, who killed several CIA agents in Khost, seated next to Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the TTP, raises some very troubling questions. While the authenticity of the video has not yet been established, the initial consensus seems to be that it is genuine. Even if it is not, what is clear is that statements claiming responsibility for the attack have been attributed to the TTP and that the TTP has not contradicted those claims as yet.
Here, then, seems to be a spectacular example of collaboration between the TTP, Al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban. (Al Qaeda has already released a video paying tribute to the Jordanian bomber, while the CIA’s forward operating base in Khost was almost certainly being used to direct operations against the Haqqani network on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border.) So does the attack signal a new phase of heightened cooperation between the various militant groups straddling the Pak-Afghan border? We must recall that Waliur Rehman, a South Waziristan TTP kingpin, recently boasted that the TTP has sent “thousands” of its men to fight the American-led forces in Afghanistan — a claim that has largely been dismissed as propaganda, but which indicates the keenness of the TTP to drum up its role in Afghanistan.
Moreover, do recent events make nonsense of the so-called good Taliban/bad Taliban distinction that the Pakistan Army allegedly makes? Certainly, many have pointed to the problem inherent in the army’s strategy of focusing its operations on those groups that are directly attacking the state here: cross-pollination between ‘discrete’ militant groups has made such a distinction hard to justify. In some cases, the army has had some limited, short-term tactical success with its approach, but the strategic and long-term costs are hard to justify. For example, before the operation in South Waziristan, an ‘understanding’ was reached with Hafiz Gul Bahadur in North Waziristan to stay out of the battle. He did, but then in many cases he has either given sanctuary to TTP militants from South Waziristan or allowed them safe passage.
Tracking the US air campaign in Pakistan
The Long War Journal has created two new pages to keep track of the information on the US air campaign against al Qaeda and the Taliban sheltering in Pakistan's lawless northwest. The pages will be updated after each airstrike or when new data becomes available.
DNA samples please. I get tired of hearing how key goons get rubbed out only to see them a week later dinning on goat and potatoes with their buddies.
LWJ says he released a audio tape saying he is alive.
"I am alive" - Hakemullah Mehsud ( CIA targets the right place,...but he wasn't there ....
Roger that E.
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