Tribal leader says Taliban leader killed in Hellfire attack

Times:

A CIA drone strike on a suspected militant hideout today killed 12 people in an attack aimed at killing the top Taleban commander in Pakistan.

A local tribal leader said Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in the early-morning raid, but the Taleban insisted he was still alive. Pakistani officials have not yet made any claim over his fate.

In the strike a pair of missiles hit a mud-walled compound which previously housed an Islamic seminary in Pasalkot village in North Waziristan where Mehsud, the chief of the Pakistani Taleban movement, was believed to be staying.

Pakistani security officials confirmed Mehsud was the target. He had succeeded Baithullah Mehsud last year after he was killed in a drone strike on his house in South Waziristan last August.

Pasalkot, which sits between North and South Waziristan, has become the main sanctuary of Taleban fighters fleeing the military operation in South Waziristan.

...

The Taliban originally denied the death of the other Mehsud, so their credibility on the issue is suspect. I think the Tribal leader who made the statement probably had no reason to lie. Hopefully he has told the truth in this case. If so it would be a significant blow to the Taliban in Pakistan. Mehsud had also threaten strikes on the US.

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