An aide to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud, Maulana Noor Saeed, has rubbished reports of him being killed by a United States drone strike last Wednesday, and said that he is alive, but ill.
Pakistan's offensive against the Taliban militia enters its decisive moment as its forces inch closer to Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud.
After his killing, the Taliban Shura (the supreme council of the Taliban) has convened meetings to elect the new TTP chief. There are three candidates in the running -- Hakimullah Mehsud, Azmatullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman Mehsud.
Hakimullah Mehsud appointment would fuel suicide attacks throughout Pakistan's urban areas. During Baitullah's time he said that suicide bombers would hit twice a week in the urban areas of Pakistan.
Acting on an intelligence tip-off, security agencies have nabbed the Punjab chief of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Khalilullah, along with a trained suicide bomber.
The operations undertaken by the Pakistan Army in the Swat Valley of the Malakand Division in the North West Frontier Province since April have started coming in for some criticism because while the Pakistan Army has claimed to have killed over 1,500 foot soldiers of the Pakistani Taliban hardly any important leader has been killed or captured.
Although the United States have denied confirmation, but it's apparent that Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud has been killed in a recent US drone attack in South Waziristan, Pakistan. Mehsud's death signifies tremendous implications, and was possibly a result of intelligence penetration. Explains security expert B Raman
The head of the Pakistani police team probing former premier Benazir Bhutto's assassination on Sunday accused Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud of planning and financing her killing.
The Pakistan government has received "credible intelligence reports" confirming the death of local Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in a drone attack and physical evidence is being collected to validate the claim, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Monday.
Speaking at a function organised the Pakistani community in London, Gilani said he has confirm reports that Mehsud had assassinated Bhutto.
Pakistan believes Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, was probably killed with his wife and bodyguards in a missile attack two days ago. According to intelligence officer in South Waziristan Mehsud's funeral had already taken place, while Pakistani media cited their own security sources saying Mehsud was dead.
The fighting broke out between Hakimullah Mehsud and Wali-ur-Rehman during a meeting of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan 'shura' or council to choose Baitullah's successor following the outfit chief's reported death in a US drone attack, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday night.
Taliban militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, accused by the Pakistan government of being involved in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, is set to dispatch a delegation to meet Pakistan People's Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari to condole the death of the former premier, a news report has said. "The delegation, comprising prominent tribal elders and religious scholars from South Waziristan, will deliver a written condolence letter from Mehsud to Asif Zardari," it said.
The Taliban rejected Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik's claim that they had killed commander Baitullah Mehsud's father-in-law and his kin on charges of espionage, while acknowledging they were in the militants' custody.
Hakimullah Mehsud, the feared head of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, has written a short autobiography that highlights his transformation from a student to a fierce jihadi.
No one claimed responsibility for the killing of Zainuddin, who had expressed his opposition to Baitullah Mehsud in recent media interviews. Zainuddin had also declared war against the Pakistani Taliban chief and his followers.
Baitullah Mehsud, the chief of Pakistani Taliban, who claimed credit for the recent deadly attack on a police academy near Lahore, has links with the country's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), a media report said.
An editorial in a Pakistani daily has claimed that intelligence outfits of India and Afghanistan funded late Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
'Hakimullah Mehsud was specifically chosen by Al Qaeda to succeed Baitullah Mehsud because he was considered most allied to it. His role in facilitating the attack on the American base in Afghanistan showed how much trust Al Qaeda had vested in him,' the New York Times reported quoting US officials.
Two days after reports emerged that he had been killed in a shootout with a rival, Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud contacted media organisations on Monday to say that he was "alive".Talking to Geo News channel, Hakimullah said no scuffle had occurred between him and Rehman.
Top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud may have been killed in an American drone attack in South Waziristan in Pakistan's restive tribal belt. Quoting unnamed senior administration officials, the popular ABC News said United States and Pakistani officials now believe that Baitullah Mehsud, head of the Pakistani Taliban, was 'very likely' killed. "There is reason to believe that reports of his death may be true, but it can't be confirmed at this time," an American official said.
Pakistan's most wanted terrorist Baitullah Mehsud's death may actually embolden the Pakistanis as it marks a weakening of those Taliban factions that oppose Islamabad, a leading United States private intelligence agency has said. "With more confidence in its influence over the remaining Taliban elements, Pakistan could be even less willing to sell out its Taliban assets in Afghanistan," the Stratfor said.
The United States on Friday said it would not confirm if Pakistan's most wanted terrorist Baitullah Mehsud has been killed in a missile strike but maintained that there seems to be a "growing consensus among credible observers" that the militant commander was dead.
Pakistan Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, the alleged mastermind in the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto died on Tuesday after protracted illness, a media report has said.
The CIA director described Pakistan's role in the war on terror, saying "The United States has not had a better partner in the war on terrorism than the Pakistanis. The turmoil of the past few weeks has only deepened that cooperation," he said, adding the two countries now had 'even more clearly mutual and common interests'.
'Mullah Omar hatches a devious plot to eliminate Mehsud, who becomes a thorn in his side. Mehsud has been undermining Mullah's position by constant attacks on the Pakistani establishment, which fuel Mehsud's growing, cult-like power in the region.'
Pentagon on Wednesday said there is a 90 per cent certainty that Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud is dead and it is operating under the presumption that the top militant is no longer a threat to the people of the region. Pentagon spokesman Jeoff Morrell said the Taliban has not been able to provide any evidence contrary to this viewpoint. "We are operating under the assumption -- and it's not just an assumption," he said.
Despite the killing of Pakistan's enemy number one Baitullah Mehsud in a United States drone strike, Islamabad has a long way to go in fighting terrorism, Pakistan's Information Minister Kamran Zaman Qaira has said."We have a long way to go. Only killing one leader doesn't mean the other miscreants will go away," he said. A senior Pakistani counter-terrorism official told the paper that Pak-Taliban chief's death may give Pakistan an opportunity to exploit the power vacuum.
Former Pakistan President General Parvez Musharraf has conceded that his country's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) maintains link with militant commanders like Sirajuddin Haqqani, suspected of having masterminded the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul.
Umar Khalid, Maulana Fazlullah and Khan Said alias Sajna are under consideration for the top slot, the report said quoting sources.
At least 22 Taliban militants were killed and scores wounded as Pakistani war planes kept up their relentless strikes on the bases of Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in restive Waziristan, while police shot dead five other radicals in Karachi on Saturday.
New Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud surfaced on Monday and vowed to strike United States and Pakistani interests -- to avenge the killing of his slain leader Baitullah Mehsud and American drone attacks on the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. His appearance in front of a select group of reporters in the South Waziristan tribal area ended speculation over his reported death in a contest for leadership of the Pakistan Taliban, sparked by Baitullah's killing.
Following the death of Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in an American drone strike, an interesting question has cropped up -- Will Islamabad offer the promised bounty money of Rs 50 million to the Central Intelligence Agency for killing Pakistan's top militant?The United States government had also announced a $ 5 million bounty on Mehsud. The Pakistan government had announced a reward for the capture, dead or alive, of Baitullah.
The fissures in the Taliban leadership has deepened as a top dissident commander vowed to target Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud, days after a noted tribal militant was gunned down for speaking out against the feared warlord. Turkistan Bhittani, a dissident Taliban militant commander, has spoken out against the leadership of Baitullah.
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud received splinter injuries to his head and back in an American missile strike in Pakistan's lawless Waziristan tribal region that killed at least 15 militants, according to intelligence officials.Mehsud, who became the Tehrik-e-Taliban chief after the killing of his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud in a drone attack in August last year, was injured in Thursday's United States' missile strike at Basalkot in Shaktoi area.
A top Pakistani tribal leader has vowed to wipe out the feared warlord Baitullah Mehsud, who has pushed Pakistan close to collapse. 30-year-old Qari Zainuddin, the leader of Taliban tribesmen opposed to Baitullah, said he had mobilised 3,000 armed followers and will attempt to wipe out the Pakistani Taliban chief and drive his al-Qaeda supporters from the country.
The Pakistan government and Taliban militants in the restive South Waziristan tribal region are expected to swap prisoners as part of efforts for a formal peace agreement. A formal agreement could be reached in three to four days. The swapping of prisoners is expected to take place at Tiarza in South Waziristan, sources said. An official said all of them were members of the Mehsud tribe.
Qari Hussain Mehsud, warns of a new wave of suicide attacks in Pakistan.
If the killing of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone attack is confirmed, it could set off a new power struggle within the Tehrik-eTaliban Pakistan, which may conclude with the naming of Qari Hussain, the chief instructor on suicide bombers, as the new Pak-Taliban chief, according to a report published in the New York Times.
A former aide of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud has accused him of plotting the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
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