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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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Pakistan, US: Taliban chief Mehsud may be dead
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-07 11:37 ISLAMABAD: US 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. If confirmed, Mehsud's demise would be a major boost to Pakistani and US 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 US 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.
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 US government was also looking into the reports, according to a US 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. A senior US intelligence official said there were strong indications that Mehsud was among those killed in the attack. He would not elaborate. The US officials both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. For years, the US 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 US 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 US 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 US aid aimed at helping the Pakistanis tame the tribal areas. |
