The Taliban

[nitesh]

read full, a genocide going on:

The women who walked – and walked

Many said their families approached the army and the government for help. But nobody listened. A few said that anyone who informed the army did not live long. They kept quiet. Even today parts of their areas where the Taliban have fled to are not known to the army. They will not speak. Suddenly in a fit of rage one of them started shouting: "Where were this army and this government when our people have been relating these incidents to them for almost two years?" This is only a question to be answered by those responsible for what is happening to our people today.

 

[nitesh]

read in full:

Why the Taliban won't take over Pakistan

 

[nitesh]

Why Pakistan can never Defeat the Taliban

 

[Singh]

Baitullah rival Qari Zainuddin shot dead in D I Khan ​

Qari Zainuddin, second from right, the leader of a Taliban faction, accompanied by his bodyguards in Dera Ismail Khan.


DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A gunman shot dead on Tuesday a militant commander who was a rival to Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, police said.



The militant commander, known as Qari Zainuddin, had recently given statements to the media opposing Mehsud. He was killed in the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan, police said.



‘I confirm that Qari Zainuddin has been shot dead,’ Salahuddin, superintendent of police in the city, told Reuters.



It was not clear who was behind the killing, he said.



Zainuddin was in his office when a man opened fire on him, local police official Salah-ud-din Khan told AFP. ‘Zainuddin was immediately shifted to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,’ he said, adding that one of the tribal leader’s accomplices was also injured in the shooting.



Khan said Zainuddin was pronounced dead by doctors when his body reached the hospital in Dera Ismail Khan.



Another local police official Ghulam Rabbani also confirmed the incident, saying ‘Qari Zainuddin has been assassinated’.



Suspicion is likely to focus on Mehsud for Zainuddin’s murder.



The government has ordered the military to go on the offensive against Mehsud.



The military has launched air strikes on Mehsud’s bases in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border.



The United States has offered a reward of $5 million on information leading to Mehsud’s location or arrest.



A Taliban faction leader who criticized the militant group’s Pakistani head has been shot dead, reportedly by one of his own guards.



Dr. Mahmood Khan Bitani told The Associated Press that he pronounced Qari Zainuddin dead on arrival Tuesday at a hospital in the northwest with gunshot wounds to the head and chest.



Baz Mohammad, an aide of the militant leader who also was wounded, says a guard barged into a room at Zainuddin’s compound after morning prayers and opened fire.



Zainuddin’s strong statements against Mehsud in recent days had led to speculation authorities were encouraging him to stand up to his rival, Mehsud.

DAWN.COM | Provinces | Baitullah rival Qari Zainuddin shot dead in D I Khan

 

[Sridhar]

Taliban bankrolled by crime, Al Qaeda's cash flow diverse

Kathy Gannon
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PESHAWAR, Pakistan–He moved his finger slowly across his throat, to show the Taliban kills truckers who don't pay for safe passage through large swaths of territory near Afghanistan.

"The situation is very dangerous for us. We give them money or our fuel, or they kill us," said Ghadr Gul, a middle-aged trucker. Along the road, storage depots are piled high with the burned-out hulks of vehicles destroyed by the Taliban.

As the Taliban gains power in Afghanistan and Pakistan, its money is coming mostly from extortion, crime and drugs, according to an Associated Press investigation into the financial network of militants in the region.

However, funding for the broader-based Al Qaeda appears to be more diverse, including money from new recruits, increasingly large donations from sympathizers and Islamic charities, and a cut of profits from honey dealers in Yemen and Pakistan who belong to the same Wahabi sect of Islam.

"With respect to the Taliban, the narco dollars are a major if not majority of their funding sources ... add in there as well extortion and kidnapping," said Juan Carlos, of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "With Al Qaeda I think it is a mixed bag. They draw benefits from the Taliban but they are not relying wholesale on narcotics. They still rely on sympathetic donors and, to a certain extent, charities.''

Afghanistan produces more opium than any other country in the world. The Taliban charges drug kingpins to move the opium through its territory, for what the United Nations estimates could run upward of $340 million annually.

The Taliban euphemistically refers to extortion money as tolls, taxes or even zakat, the 2.5 per cent donation to charity that Islam requires. A kidnapped Pakistani businessman had to pay more than $140,000 in ransom. When his Taliban captors freed him, he said, they told him, "Think of this as your zakat. Now your place in heaven is guaranteed.''

Money from drugs and criminal gangs make up roughly 85 to 90 per cent of Taliban revenue, estimates John Solomon, a terrorism expert with U.S. Military Academy's Counter Terrorism Center. In Pakistan alone, Owais Ghani, governor of northwest Pakistan, puts the Taliban's annual earnings at roughly $50 million.

Taliban foot soldiers are paid $115 a month, almost $20 more than the average Pakistani policeman. A Taliban commander makes upward of $400 a month, or nearly a third of the average annual salary of most Pakistanis.

The money also goes a long way because explosives are available locally and cheaply, said a senior Pakistani security official. The explosive devices that kill NATO and Pakistani troops cost less than $100 each to make, said the official. The training to make, place and detonate the devices likely comes from Al Qaeda, he said.

The informal money transfer system known as hawala or hundi is also still flourishing in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the financial crackdown closed some of Al Qaeda's most lucrative sources of funding. But with the help of the hawala system, Al Qaeda has since re-established its money line, latching onto Taliban crime while making a modest comeback on illicit business and donations after the American-led invasion of Iraq, according to interviews with jihadis, traders, security officials and terrorism experts.

TheStar.com | World | Taliban bankrolled by crime, Al Qaeda's cash flow diverse

 

[RPK]

David Miliband says Taliban could be reintegrated into Afghanistan government


David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, has said "moderate" members of the Taliban insurgency killing British forces in Afghanistan could be given seats in the Afghan government.

James Kirkup, Political Correspondent, and Caroline Gammell
Published: 10:03AM BST 27 Jul 2009

He said that some members of the broad coalition of Islamic militants, tribal groups and hired fighters could be drawn into the Afghan political process.

Speaking in a month that has seen 20 British soldiers killed in Afghanistan, he also warned that "recent sacrifices will not be the last" and admitted that military force alone will not be enough to solve Afghan problems.

Afghans vote in presidential elections next month, and Mr Miliband told a Nato seminar in Brussels that some parts of the insurgency could be brought into the political process.

"The problems that exist in Afghanistan are not susceptible to a military solution," Mr Miliband said.

"In the end the choice will be made by those in the insurgency about whether they want to reconcile themselves. I think it is a common sense approach."

Accepting that the Government needs to do more to explain the Afghan mission to UK voters, he again linked the conflict to British national security. The Afghan-Pakistan border is "al-Qaeda's incubator of choice" he said.

"We need to be clear about what we are trying to do, clear about the challenges and the dangers that continue to endure.

"The badlands between Afghanistan and Pakistan are al-Qaeda's incubator of choice."

He said the area was generating one of the "most deadiest threats that our citizens face".

Mr Miliband said it was important to make it clear that Britain and the US were not alone in their efforts in the region: "I emphasise to the British people that there are 42 countries involved in Afghanistan."

Douglas Alexander, the development secretary, admitted that some people might be unhappy about political engagement with insurgents, but insisted that most would back the strategy.

He told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: "I think people recognise from the experience of places like Northern Ireland that it is necessary to put military pressure on the Taliban while at the same time holding out the prospect that there can be a political process that can follow, whereby those that are willing to renunciate violence can follow a different path."

 

[mig-29]

Pakistan Taliban leader's wife dies in suspected drone attack

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suspected U.S. drone attack killed the wife of the leader of the Pakistan Taliban Wednesday, according to intelligence sources and relatives.

The unmanned aerial vehicle targeted the home of Baitullah Mehsud's father-in-law in northwestern Pakistan, dropping two missiles, an intelligence official said.

Mehsud's second wife was one of two people killed in the strike, according to the sources. Four others were wounded, they said.

Muhammad Jamal, a Taliban member in the area, told CNN that the attack caused injuries to children and women.

The U.S. military routinely offers no comment on reported drone attacks. However, the United States is the only country operating in the region known to have the ability to launch missiles from drones, which are controlled remotely

Mehsud and other key Taliban leaders have been targeted by the ongoing Pakistani military operation in northwest Pakistan. Hideouts linked to Mehsud are regularly shelled by both Pakistani aircraft and suspected U.S. drones. Video Watch how remote-controlled drones are revolutionizing warfare »

Mehsud's close aide recently confirmed that the Pakistani Taliban chief was behind the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was gunned down at a political rally in December 2007.

Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, is the current president of Pakistan.

The Pakistani government and CIA officials have said in the past that Mehsud was responsible for Bhutto's death.

Pakistan Taliban leader's wife dies in suspected drone attack - CNN.com

 

[1.44]

Rest in Peace to all the innocents killed in the war on terror

 

[I-G]

Rest in Peace to all the innocents killed in the war on terror

its not war on terror , in real its the real terror .

 

[RPK]

FACTBOX-Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud alive or dead? | Reuters

ISLAMABAD, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Pakistani intelligence agents were scrambling on Thursday to determine whether Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed along with his wife in a U.S. missile strike a day earlier.

A relative of the dead woman, Mehsud's second wife, said the chieftain was not present when the U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles at the house of his father-in-law in Makeen, a village in South Waziristan -- in northwest Pakistan.

But rumours swirl that he may have been wounded or killed.

Following are some details about Mehsud.

-- In late 2007, Mehsud proclaimed himself leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Movement of Taliban of Pakistan, grouping 13 factions. Pakistani Taliban leaders have sworn allegiance to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

-- Mehsud became Public Enemy Number One after launching suicide attacks in 2007 against the military and politicians.

-- The government of ex-president Pervez Musharraf and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency both saw Mehsud as chief suspect in the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Mehsud denied it.

-- The United States had offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to Mehsud's location or arrest. The Pakistan government has put a $615,000 bounty on his head.

-- Regarded as an ally of al Qaeda, Mehsud has assembled militants from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Punjabi based group that has provided al Qaeda's foot soldiers in Pakistan, along with Uzbeks and other Central Asian fighters within al Qaeda's network. Together with his own men, Mehsud is reckoned to have 10,000 to over 20,000 fighters with him in mountainous South Waziristan.

-- Pakistani officials say Mehsud is helped by arch-rival India, but diplomats in Islamabad are skeptical and see that as an attempt to dislodge Indian influence in Afghanistan.

-- Critics say Pakistan's army tolerated Mehsud for too long, and deride a 2005 peace deal, saying militants were paid off.

-- In June, U.S. drones began attacking Mehsud territory more frequently after Pakistan's government ordered its army to pursue Mehsud. Pakistani forces have bombarded Taliban positions and sealed off roads, but there has been no all-out assault. -- Diplomats say Mehsud's elimination would mark a major coup for Pakistan, but doubt it will help Western forces fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. -- Mehsud was born in 1974 in Bannu in North West Frontier Province. His ancestral village of Shaga is in South Waziristan, the poorest of seven Federally Administered Tribal Areas from the ethnic Pashtun belt straddling the border with Afghanistan.

-- Mehsud belongs to the Bromikhel, a traditional sub-clan of the fiercely independent Mehsuds. The son of a minor cleric, Mehsud was educated to the age of 12 in a madrasa, or religious school, is barely literate and worked as a truck driver. -- Journalists who have met Mehsud describe him as physically unimposing, round-faced beneath a beard. He also suffered from diabetes. He has two brothers among his followers. (Editing by Ron Popeski)

 

[RPK]

The Associated Press: Pakistan, US: Taliban chief Mehsud may be dead


ISLAMABAD — U.S. and Pakistani authorities were investigating whether Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has led a violent campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations against Pakistan's government, was killed in a CIA missile strike.

A Pakistani official said Friday that reports of the militant leader's death were based on communication intercepts. A senior U.S. intelligence official said there were strong indications that Mehsud was among those killed in the attack, but he would not elaborate.

If confirmed, Mehsud's demise would be a major boost to Pakistani and U.S. efforts to eradicate the Taliban and al-Qaida.

Mehsud has al-Qaida connections and has been suspected in the killing of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Pakistan views him as its top internal threat and has been preparing an offensive against him. The U.S. sees him as a danger to the war effort in Afghanistan, largely because of the threat he is believed to pose to nuclear-armed Pakistan.

The missile strike hit the home of Mehsud's father-in-law in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal region early Wednesday. Intelligence officials say Mehsud's second wife was among at least two people killed, and Mehsud associates have claimed he was not among the dead.

Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas cautioned the reports of Mehsud's death were still unconfirmed. "We are receiving reports and probing," he said.

A senior Pakistani intelligence official said phone and other communications intercepts — he would not be more specific — have led authorities to suspect Mehsud was dead, but he also stressed there's no definitive evidence yet. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter publicly.

The U.S. government was also looking into the reports, according to a U.S. counterterrorism official. The official indicated the United States did not yet have physical evidence — remains — that would prove who died. But he said there are other ways of determining who was killed in the strike. He declined to describe them.

The two U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The U.S. and Pakistan will conduct DNA testing on the body to try to confirm it is Mehsud, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unnamed U.S. defense official. The tests will use DNA samples taken from Mehsud's family members, and results could take anywhere from days to weeks, the newspaper reported.

For years, the U.S. has considered Mehsud a lesser threat to its interests than some of the other Pakistani Taliban, their Afghan counterparts and al-Qaida, because most of his attacks were focused inside Pakistan, not against U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

That view appeared to change in recent months as Mehsud's power grew and concerns mounted that increasing violence in Pakistan could destabilize the U.S. ally and threaten the entire region.

In March, the State Department authorized a reward of up to $5 million for the militant chief. And increasingly, American missiles fired by unmanned drones have focused on Mehsud-related targets.

While Mehsud's death would be a big blow to the Taliban in Pakistan, he has deputies who could take his place. Whether a new leader could wreak as much havoc in Pakistan as Mehsud could depends largely on how much pressure the Pakistani military continues to put on the Taliban network, especially in South Waziristan.

Pakistan's record is spotty on that front. It has used both military action and truces to try to contain Mehsud over the years, but neither tactic seemed to work, despite billions in U.S. aid aimed at helping the Pakistanis tame the tribal areas.

Mehsud was not that prominent a militant when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to Mahmood Shah, a former security chief for the tribal regions. In fact, Mehsud has struggled against such rivals as Abdullah Mehsud, an Afghan war veteran who had spent time in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay.

A February 2005 peace deal with Mehsud appeared to give him room to consolidate and boost his troop strength tremendously, and within months dozens of pro-government tribal elders in the region were gunned down on his command.

In December 2007, Mehsud became the head of a new coalition called the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Pakistan's Taliban movement. Under Mehsud's guidance, the group has killed hundreds of Pakistanis in suicide and other attacks. He is believed to have as many as 20,000 fighters at his beck and call, among them a steady supply of suicide bombers.

Analysts say the reason for Mehsud's rise in the militant ranks is his alliances with al-Qaida and other violent extremist groups. U.S. intelligence has said al-Qaida has set up its operational headquarters in Mehsud's South Waziristan stronghold and the neighboring North Waziristan tribal area.

Mehsud has no record of attacking targets in the West, although he has threatened to attack Washington.

However, he is suspected of being behind a 10-man cell arrested in Barcelona in January 2008 for plotting suicide attacks in Spain. Pakistan's former government and the CIA have named him as the prime suspect behind the December 2007 killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He has denied a role.

He also has withstood threats from within Taliban ranks. A few weeks ago, Qari Zainuddin, the leader of a renegade Pakistani Taliban faction who had criticized Mehsud's tactics, was shot to death — allegedly on Mehsud's orders.

In June of this year, Pakistan said it would launch an offensive against Mehsud in South Waziristan.

In the weeks that have followed, the army has relied heavily on airstrikes to target areas under Mehsud's control, but it has never quite gone full-scale with the offensive. Meantime, the missile strikes continued, raising speculation that the U.S. might get him first.

Pakistan publicly opposes the missile strikes, saying they anger local tribes and make it harder for the army to operate. Still, many analysts suspect the two countries have a secret deal allowing the strikes

 

[IBRIS]

The Long War Journal: Print This


Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud was not killed in yesterday's airstrike in South Waziristan, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal.

"Baitullah is alive," one official old The Long War Journal. "We're aware of the reports that he might have been killed and we are looking into it, but we don't believe he was killed."

The late night airstrike on a compound operated by Ikramuddin Mehsud, Baitullah's father-in-law, in the village of Zanghra in the mountains near Baitullah's home town of Makeen, killed Baitullah's second wife and two other Taliban fighters. One of Baitullah's two brothers was also reported to have been killed.

Witnesses on the scene immediately said that Baitullah was not among those killed. He reportedly visited his wife but left an hour prior to the attack.

But more than one day after the US strike in South Waziristan, rumors have surfaced that Baitullah was killed in the attack. The local Taliban are said to have cordoned off the area for over 36 hours to prevent outsiders from viewing the attack site, fueling speculation that Baitullah was killed.

Then, earlier today, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman speculated that Baitullah was killed.

"We suspect he was killed in the missile strike," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Geo News. "We have some information, but we don't have material evidence to confirm it."

Pakistan's chief military spokesman later denied reports that Baitullah was killed.

Later in the day, a US intelligence official told ABC News today that "there is strong indication" Baitullah was killed.

"Efforts are underway to determine for certain whether it was Mehsud, but there are hopes that it is him," the official told the television network.

The Taliban have not issued a statement to confirm or deny Baitullah's death. In the past, the Taliban and al Qaeda have released martyrdom statements upon the death of their senior leaders.

Reports of senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in Pakistan have been highly unreliable. In the past, Al Qaeda leaders Ayman al Zawahiri, Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, Abu Obaidullah Al Masri, Adam Gadahn, Ibn Amin, and Rashid Rauf have been reported killed in strikes, but these men have later resurfaced. Similarly, Sa'ad bin Laden was recently reported killed, but he is now thought to be alive. And Abu Khabab al Masri was reported killed several times before he finally was killed during a July 2008 strike.

Pakistani Taliban leaders Mullah Nazir, Mullah Fazlullah, Faqir Mohammed, Omar Khalid, Hakeemullah Mehsud, and Qari Hussain, as well as Baitullah, have in the past all been reported killed, only to resurface later.

Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan's most powerful Taliban commander

Baitullah is the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, the unified command of scores of local Taliban fighters throughout the Northwest Frontier Province and the tribal areas abutting Afghanistan. He has also allied with North Waziristan Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadar and South Waziristan leader Mullah Nazir to form the Council of United Mujahideen. The group has pledged its support to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and overall Taliban commander Mullah Omar, and has vowed to battle the Pakistan, US, and Afghan governments.

Based out of South Waziristan, Baitullah has become the most prominent Taliban leader in Pakistan. He commands tens of thousands of well-trained fighters, who conduct suicide and conventional attacks against Pakistani, Coalition, and Afghan forces. Baitullah's fighters have defeated the Pakistani Army in several engagements since 2004. In January 2008, the Pakistani Army agreed to a ceasefire after abruptly ending an operation after 10 days of fighting. He has been implicated in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto shortly after her return from exile in late 2007.

Baitullah is closely allied with bin Laden and Mullah Omar. Al Qaeda shelters in Baitullah's tribal areas and maintains scores of training camps and safe houses in the region.

Baitullah has openly stated his intentions to conduct attacks against the United States and the West. He "poses a clear threat to American persons and interests in the region," the State Department said earlier this year, when it offered up to $5 million dollars for information leading to his location or capture.

 

[RPK]

The Associated Press: Intel officials: Taliban leader Mehsud dead


DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Pakistan's Taliban chief, who has led a violent campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations against Pakistan's government, has been killed in a CIA missile strike and his body buried, three Pakistani intelligence officials said Friday.

But one of the three said no intelligence agent had actually seen the remains.

The officials said Baitullah Mehsud was killed in Wednesday's missile attack on the home of his father-in-law and that his body was buried in the village of Nardusai in South Waziristan, not far from the site of the missile strike.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

One official said he had seen a classified intelligence report stating Mehsud was dead and buried, but agents had not seen the body as the area was under Taliban control.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said he could confirm the death of Mehsud's wife but not of the Taliban leader himself, although information pointed in that direction.

"I can confirm to the extent that his wife is dead, and probably one of his brothers, but we do not have any ... evidence that he's dead," Malik told reporters outside Parliament. "Yes, lot of information is pouring in from that area that he's dead, but I'm unable to confirim unless I have solid evidence."

A security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said "about 70 percent" of the information pointed to Mehsud being dead, but authorities had not yet been able to cross-check this. He said authorities had not recovered a body.

Malik, in his statements outside Parliament, urged Mehsud's associates to abandon their leaders and to "serve Islam in true meaning and serve Pakistan as this country has given them refuge."

Malik said no Pakistani military operation was going on in South Waziristan, and only selective targets were being hit. Mehsud, however, was believed to have been killed in an American strike, the intelligence officials said.

"I have already said that it is a targeted operation, it is a targeted law enforcement action against Baitullah Mehsud's group and it will continue till Baitullah Mehsud's group is eliminated forever," he said.

If confirmed, Mehsud's demise would be a major boost to Pakistani and U.S. efforts to eradicate the Taliban and al-Qaida.

Mehsud has al-Qaida connections and has been suspected in the killing of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Pakistan views him as its top internal threat and has been preparing an offensive against him. The U.S. sees him as a danger to the war effort in Afghanistan, largely because of the threat he is believed to pose to nuclear-armed Pakistan.

The U.S. government was also looking into the reports of Mehsud's death, according to a U.S. counterterrorism official. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, indicated the United States did not yet have physical evidence that would prove who died. But he said there are other ways of determining who was killed in the strike. He declined to describe them.

For years, the U.S. has considered Mehsud a lesser threat to its interests than some of the other Pakistani Taliban, their Afghan counterparts and al-Qaida, because most of his attacks were focused inside Pakistan, not against U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

That view appeared to change in recent months as Mehsud's power grew and concerns mounted that increasing violence in Pakistan could destabilize the U.S. ally and threaten the entire region.

 

[RPK]

Al Jazeera English - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Pakistan Taliban denies leader dead

A senior commander in the Pakistani Taliban has dismissed as "ridiculous" reports that the group's leader was killed in a US missile attack in South Waziristan.

Haikmullah Mehsud told reporters by telephone on Saturday that Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5m bounty on his head, was in good health and would soon appear in the media to prove that he was alive.

There has been widespread speculation that Mehsud was killed, along with his wife and bodyguards, after a US drone aircraft fired missiles at his father-in-law's house in the village of Makeen earlier in the week.

Haikmullah Mehsud, who would be a leading contender for the leadership, said that the claims were "black propaganda" aimed at luring the Pakistani Taliban leader into the open so that he could be targeted.

His claims were echoed by Maulana Merajuddin, who heads a delegation representing Mehsud's tribe in Islamabad.

"I believe that what we have heard by media sources during the past few days on the killing of Mehsud is incorrect," he told Al Jazeera.

"My sources from local citizens in Waziristan confirm that Mehsud is alive and doing well."

'Pretty certain'

There has been no physical evidence of Mehsud's death and previous claims of his death have proved to be false, but Pakistani officials are confident that a number of signs point to the fact that he has been killed.


On Saturday, one of Mehsud's bodyguards was buried in the town of Mardan, sources have told Al Jazeera, and there have been reports of a meeting of senior Pakistani Taliban fighters to decide on a successor to Mehsud.

Shah Mehmoud Qureshi, Pakistan's foreign minister, said on Friday that he was "pretty certain" that the missile attack had been succesful.

"Various government agencies have reported so, his own followers have said so, there are people who have been to the funeral and are witness to the burial," he told UK-based BBC radio.

A number of intelligence officials have said that Mehsud's body was buried in Nargosey, a tiny settlement about 1km from the site of the reported attack.

The Associated Press news agency quoted Pakistani intelligence officials as saying that the US missile attack came after Pakistani officials passed on information about Mehsud's whereabouts to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Pakistan's government formally condemns Washington's use of unmanned drones over its territory as violating Islamabad's sovereignty and acting as a recruiting tool for Taliban in the region.

'Joint disaster'

The US refuses to confirm suspected attacks by its drones, but the US military in Afghanistan and the CIA are the only agencies in the region with the technology.

"If Mehsud turns up alive on television screens it would mean that the joint operation was another joint disaster," Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said.



"With [Mehsud] gone, I think there is going to be an internal struggle and disarray in their ranks"

Shah Mehmoud Qureshi,
Pakistani foreign minister

"The American drone policy in the tribal areas is almost turning the entire population against the United States, anti-American feeling is very high."

Qureshi said that Mehsud's death could lead to divisions in the Taliban.

"With him gone, I think there is going to be an internal struggle and disarray in their ranks, I think it will set in demobilisation. It is a great success for the forces that are fighting extremism and terrorism in Pakistan," he said.

But Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, warned that such groups can "regenerate another leader".

"I don't want to make more than one should of a single individual," he said.

The US and Pakistan have said that Mehsud is linked to al-Qaeda and has been involved in dozens of suicide attacks, beheadings and assassinations, including the killing of Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistani prime minister.

His estimated 10,000-20,000 fighters have been blamed for a wave of suicide attacks inside Pakistan and on Western forces across the border in Afghanistan.

 

[RPK]

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistani Taliban's leader 'ill'

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.

On Sunday, Maulana Nur Syed told the BBC the Pakistani Taliban leader had not been at the house that was attacked by the US missile.

But it is thought that by making this statement, the Taliban are preparing the ground for an announcement that Pakistan's most wanted man is in fact dead, the BBC's Orla Guerin in Islamabad says.

'90% certainty'

Earlier, Pakistani officials said they had "credible evidence" that Baitullah Mehsud had been killed.

But senior Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud then contacted the BBC to say his chief was alive and well.

Officials in Islamabad later said that Hakimullah was himself one of those killed in a fight over succession in South Waziristan.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool, in Islamabad, says the situation is very unclear and information is based on rumours from deep inside militant territory in north-west Pakistan.

In Washington, US National Security Adviser Jim Jones put he level of US certainty that Baitullah Mehsud had been killed "in the 90% category".

The Pakistani interior minister have challenged the Taliban to prove its leaders are still alive.

But Taliban commanders have dismissed this as a ploy to flush them out into the open.

 

[RPK]

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistan to seek Mehsud DNA proof

The Pakistani government says it intends to provide conclusive proof that Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, is dead.

"All the credible intelligence I have from that area does finally confirm [his death]," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the BBC.

But the government says it hopes to get DNA evidence to back up its claims.

Baitullah Mehsud was reported to have been killed in a US missile strike last week in his remote tribal stronghold.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says that the Pakistani government is growing increasingly confident that it will soon be able to prove that Baitullah Mehsud was killed in the attack.

In Washington, US National Security Adviser Jim Jones put the level of US certainty that he had been killed "in the 90% category".

But Taliban sources have denied these claims, insisting he is still alive.

DNA efforts

Mr Malik said the government was working to obtain DNA evidence to establish that the Taliban commander had been killed.

See a map of the region

The government had previously said that it would be extremely difficult to get DNA proof of his death.

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But Mr Malik told the BBC's Urdu service that they did have DNA from Mr Mehsud's brother, who was killed a few months ago.

However, correspondents say that getting hold of Baitullah Mehsud's body in the remote and hostile terrain of South Waziristan could prove to be a stumbling block.

The Pakistani interior minister has challenged the Taliban to prove its leaders are still alive - something the Taliban commanders dismissed as a ploy to flush them out into the open

Taliban turmoil

On Sunday a key aide of the militant commander said that Baitullah Mehsud was gravely ill and had not been injured in the missile attack.

It is thought that in making the statement the Taliban are preparing the ground for an announcement that Pakistan's most wanted man is in fact dead, correspondents say.

But the fate of the entire leadership of the Pakistani Taliban is subject to intense speculation, after days of conflicting reports.




Profile: Baitullah Mehsud
Mr Malik said that intelligence sources indicated that the next tier of Taliban leadership was in turmoil after it was reported that up to two potential successors were killed in a gun battle.

"There was a scuffle and there have been some deaths and they are now in disarray and I think with this action their back has been broken," Mr Malik said.

"I feel that after killing of Baitullah Mehsud, the whole Tehreek-e-Taliban is in disarray," he said.

Senior Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud contacted the BBC on Saturday to say his chief was alive and well.

But officials in Islamabad later said that Hakimullah was himself one of those killed in the reported fight over succession.

The area is extremely remote and officials have constantly emphasised the difficulty of getting accurate information from the region.

The interior minister said the government was determined to pursue the remaining Taliban leaders encamped in the area.

"We are not going to stop our law enforcement action until the last Talib is flushed out. They have no option except to get killed or surrender," he said.

But Mr Malik expressed concern about the possibility of al-Qaeda moving in to fill any void that might have been left by the death of senior Taliban commanders.

"They are trying to find someone to install him as chief terrorist in area," he said.

 

[RPK]

AFP: Mehsud killed while getting 'leg massage': report

WASHINGTON — US officials stuck to their belief that Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed last week, amid reports a CIA drone fired missiles at him as he was getting a leg massage on the roof of his father-in-law's house.

A US counterterrorism official told AFP on Monday "there are strong indications (Mehsud) is dead" following a missile attack launched from unmanned aircraft.

"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 aerial surveillance, with nine unmanned drones assigned to target the Taliban leader, a US official told CNN television.

On Wednesday night, US surveillance in Pakistan spied a man on the roof of Mehsud's father-in-law's home in South Waziristan.

The description was of a "short, stocky man who was following the physical description" of Mehsud, CNN said, citing the intelligence official.

A woman was massaging the man's leg and the Central Intelligence Agency knew Mehsud had diabetes, experienced pain in his legs, and often sought relief in that way, the report said.

Officials already had authorization from Obama to strike Mehsud if they thought they had a clear shot.

"That's when the CIA decided to move in," the network reported.

A top Taliban commander, Hakimullah Mehsud, earlier Monday challenged Pakistan to prove that Mehsud was dead, insisting in a telephone call to AFP that the warlord was still alive.

Although Pakistan said it believed Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack along with his wife on Wednesday, there has been confusion over his fate.

Both governments have stopped short of confirming his death.

White House national security advisor Jim Jones said on Sunday that the United States was "90 percent" sure Baitullah Mehsud had died after a US missile strike.

"The Pakistani government believes he is and all the evidence we have suggests that," Jones said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.

Jones and Pakistani officials also said dissension has emerged in the ranks of the Taliban over who should succeed Baitullah Mehsud.

Hakimullah Mehsud said the insurgent group would issue a message in the next three to four days proving Baitullah Mehsud was still alive.

Hakimullah said Baitullah was only "a bit sick."

He did confirm to AFP, however, that Baitullah's wife had been killed in an attack, adding that the Taliban would soon avenge her death.

 

[RPK]

Militant commander Faqir Muhammad takes over Pak Taliban- Hindustan Times

Militant commander Maulvi Faqir Muhammad declared himself the head of the Pakistani Taliban, saying he was temporarily replacing Baitullah Mehsud, whom Washington and Islamabad have said was almost certainly killed in a drone attack.

Maulvi Faqir, the commander of Taliban fighters in Bajaur tribal region bordering Afghanistan, contacted journalists on phone and declared himself as the new chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan on Wednesday.

He denied reports of Mehsud's death, saying he is "alive but seriously ill" and that is why he had gone into hiding. He claimed that there would be no impact on the Taliban movement even if Mehsud was martyred.

Faqir said no meeting of the 42-member Taliban council known as a shura has yet been convened to elect a new head and reports about the meeting were baseless.

He also said commanders Wali-ur-Rehman and Hakimullah Mehsud had no right to elect a new Taliban chief without consulting all militant factions.

US and Pakistani officials have said they are certain that Mehsud was killed with his second wife and several bodyguards during a Predator drone attack in South Waziristan on August 5. Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said authorities are gathering evidence to confirm his death.

Several Taliban commanders and spokesmen have denied reports of Mehsud's death but have not provided any evidence that he is still alive.

Maulvi Faqir, who was appointed deputy chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan when it was formed in December 2007, also named Swat-based Muslim Khan as the new spokesman for the group.

He said Khan would replace Maulvi Omar, who was arrested by security forces in Mohmand tribal region on Monday.

Pakistani officials who have questioned Maulvi Omar have said he too has confirmed Mehsud's death in a drone attack.

Though Maulvi Omar was not a military commander, he is believed to have considerable information on the Taliban's organisation and strategy as he was a close aide of Mehsud.

Maulvi Faqir claimed authorities had "forcibly extracted" a statement from Maulvi Omar regarding Mehsud's death.

 

[1.44]

Taliban cut off fingers of two Afghan voters

Taliban cut off fingers of two Afghan voters
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KABUL: Taliban militants cut off the ink-stained fingers of two Afghan voters in the militant south during the presidential election, the country’s top election monitoring group said Saturday.

Two voters who had dipped their index fingers in purple ink — a fraud prevention measure — were attacked in Kandahar province shortly after voting Thursday, said Nadery, the head of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan. Kandahar is the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban.

‘Our observers saw two voters whose fingers, with the ink, was cut off in Kandahar. This was on election day. This was in the afternoon,’ Nadery told AFP.

Rumors that militants would cut off voters’ ink-stained fingers spread before the vote. A Taliban spokesman had said militants would not carry out such attacks, but the Taliban is a loose organization of individual commanders who could carry out the threat on their own.

Millions of Afghans voted in the country’s second-ever direct presidential election, although Taliban threats and attacks appeared to hold down the turnout, especially in the south where President Hamid Karzai was expected to run strongly among his fellow Pashtuns. At least 26 Afghan civilians and security forces died in dozens of militant attacks.

If results show that more people voted in the north than the south, ‘then we will have an issue,’ Nadery said.

Fewer votes in the south would harm the chances of Karzai to win a second five-year term, and increase the chances that his top challenger, former Foreign Minster Abdullah Abdullah, could pull off an upset.

If neither candidate gets 50 per cent in the first round, they will go to a second round runoff. Initial preliminary results won’t be announced until Tuesday, and final results won’t be certified until mid-September.

Nadery said his group saw widespread problems of election officials who were not impartial and were pressuring people to vote for certain candidates. Election monitors also saw voters carrying boxes of voter cards — so many votes could be cast — to polling sites, he said.

Both Karzai and Abdullah claimed to be ahead in early vote counting. Karzai’s campaign insisted Friday he would have enough votes to avoid a runoff. Abdullah countered that he was leading but suspected there would be a runoff.

Election officials called on the candidates to refrain from such claims, which could delay the formation of a new government.

Officials of Afghan and international monitoring teams agreed it was too early to say who won or to know whether fraud was extensive enough to affect the outcome.

The European Union on Saturday said the election represented a ‘victory for democracy,’ and that the vote count must be carried out in a transparent manner.

The EU has deployed teams of election monitors.

The EU’s external affairs commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said a fair vote is necessary to ensure that elected candidates enjoy public support.

President Barack Obama congratulated the Afghan people Friday for pulling off the election in the midst of violent intimidation. — AP/AFP

DAWN.COM | World | Taliban cut off fingers of two Afghan voters

 

[bhramos]

Hakimullah Mehsud: Ruthless New Pakistan Taliban Leader Named

Hakimullah Mehsud: Ruthless New Pakistan Taliban Leader Named

MAKEEN, Pakistan — Pakistani Taliban fighters are committed to helping the fight in Afghanistan and consider Barack Obama their "No 1 enemy," a top commander said amid uncertainty Sunday about whether a new leader has been appointed to head the movement.

Waliur Rehman made the remarks in an interview with the Associated Press at a time of intense speculation over the next leader of the al-Qaida-allied group. A CIA missile strike on Aug. 5 is believed to have killed former chief Baitullah Meshsud. Rehman, a cousin of Baitullah, is seen as a strong candidate for the post.

Speaking Saturday – before aides to another Taliban commander said a second contender, Hakimullah Meshud, had been appointed the next chief – Rehman said Baitullah had given him full control over the network and that a new leader "would be chosen within five days."

He did not refer to the claim that Hakimullah had become the leader – an omission that will add to doubts about whether that appointment had been agreed by all the top Taliban members. It will also likely be taken as a further sign the movement and its up to 25,000 fighters remain split over the succession.

Rehman met the AP in a forest near Makeen village in the heart of the semiautonomous lands close to the Afghan border where al-Qaida and the Taliban hold sway. Looking healthy and dressed in clean, ironed clothes, he was accompanied by five armed guards.

American officials are watching closely to see who succeeds Baitullah, in particular whether the new leader will direct more fighters across the border where U.S. and NATO forces are facing soaring attacks by insurgents. Baitullah was believed to have mainly concentrated on attacking Pakistani targets.

"We are with Afghan Taliban. We will keep on helping them until America and its allies are expelled," he said, adding this did not mean an end to attacks in Pakistan. "American President Obama and his allies are our enemy No 1," he said. "We will sacrifices our bodies, hearts and money to fight them."

Like most other members of the Taliban network, he insisted Baitullah was alive but sick, hence the need for a new chief. U.S. and Pakistani officials are almost certain he is dead, especially since the Taliban have provided no proof he is alive.

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Two close aides to another commander, Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, told The Associated Press on Saturday a 42-member Taliban council, or shura, had appointed Hakimullah their new leader in an unanimous decision on Friday.

"Now all these talks of differences should end," said one of the aides, Bakht Zada. "There have not been any differences ever."

Mohammed Amir Rana, an expert on Pakistani militant groups, said he believed the Taliban had not agreed on a replacement.

"Maulvi Faqir Mohammad is trying to manipulate the race by announcing to the press that Hakimullah is the head," he said. "Until now there is no consensus," he said, adding that supporters of Waliur Rehman, did not accept him.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the government had received intelligence reports about Hakimullah's appointment "as the chief terrorist" but there was no official confirmation. The Dawn newspaper quoted one unidentified intelligence officer as saying the announcement "was a ruse" as part of the ongoing power struggle.

Earlier this month, Malik had claimed Rehman and Hakimullah had been killed in a shootout between rival factions over who should take over the Taliban and its arms and cash.

"There was no truth in those claims of mine or his death," Rehman said. "It is futile propaganda by enemies."

Since Aug. 5, Pakistani officials have been eager to portray the Taliban as in disarray, saying commanders and the rank-and-file were fighting among themselves. At one point, Mohammad – who comes from a different part of the tribal region – claimed to have taken over the leadership.

Hakimullah comes from the same tribe as Baitullah and had been seen as a likely replacement.

As military chief of Baitullah's Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Pakistani Taliban Movement, Hakimullah commanded three tribal regions and had a reputation as Baitullah's most ruthless deputy. He first appeared in public to journalists in November 2008, when he offered to take reporters on a ride in a U.S. Humvee taken from a supply truck heading to Afghanistan.

Authorities say he was behind threats to foreign embassies in Islamabad, and there was a 10 million rupee ($120,000) bounty on his head. Hakimullah claimed responsibility for the June 9 bombing of the Pearl Continental hotel in the northwestern city of Peshawar, and the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore earlier this year.

Rehamn was among Baitullah's closest advisers and deputies. Mehsud reportedly said during a shura that Rehman should be his successor if something happened to him.

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Associated Press writer Chris Brummitt contributed to this report.

Hakimullah Mehsud: Ruthless New Pakistan Taliban Leader Named