According to US intelligence sources, Kaashmiri was killed in a missile attack carried out by unmanned aircraft in South Waziristan on September 7.
A Filipino militant and a bomb- making expert, most-wanted by the United States, was killed in an American drone strike in Pakistan's restive South Waziristan region on January 14.
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud on Saturday issued a new audio recording saying he was alive and well, dismissing reports that he was killed in a United States' drone attack in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. The recording was provided by the Taliban to the media in northwest Pakistan a day after another audio message -- in which Mehsud said he was alive but did not mention Thursday's drone strike in Waziristan tribal region -- triggered reports of his death.
Three militant factions, including splinter groups of the Taliban, have separately claimed responsibility for the suicide attack that took place after the popular flag-lowering ceremony at Wagah in Pakistan.
At least 14 Taliban militants were killed in twin US drone attacks in Pakistan's restive northwest on Wednesday while five soldiers and as many militants died in violence, including in a suicide bombing at an army barrack in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The United States is now focusing on investigations into Times Square bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad's terror links in Pakistan, following his revelation that he attended a terrorist training camp in Waziristan.
Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad, the suspected Times Square bomber, attended a terrorist training camp at Waziristan in Pakistan, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has said. In a 10-page compliant file on Tuesday before the Court of Judge Nathaniel Fox, Southern District of New York, the FBI alleged that Shahzad traveled from Connecticut to New York on a sports-utility vehicle that was laden with a bomb.
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.
Even as the army battles Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's militants headed by Hakimullah Mehsud, the government has decided to adopt another approach to end the spate of terror strikes on its soil. As part of this strategy, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has urged religious scholars to issue fatwas against the Taliban militants, by terming them as kafirs (non-believers).
US officials said the message did not amount to an ultimatum but rather it was intended to "prod a reluctant Pakistani military" to go after Taliban insurgents in Pakistan who are directing attacks in Afghanistan.
A beefed-up campaign of American drone strikes over the last three months has battered Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in the tribal area of North Waziristan, says a report in the New York Times.
The Obama administration is stepping up pressure on Pakistan to expand and reorient its fight against Taliban and Al Qaeda and wants its army to pursue the militants into north Waziristan.
While the Pakistani army and US troops continue to drive the Taliban out of their hideouts in South Waziristan, there is perhaps a dormant, but more dangerous, threat looming overhead.
The Pakistani military on Friday claimed its forces have entered the important Taliban stronghold of Makeen in South Waziristan even as gunmen injured an army brigadier and his driver in an audacious attack in the federal capital.
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.
Reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar has reemerged to reassert direct control over the militant group, ordering attacks and shuffling field commanders in Afghanistan, as his group faces an offensive from the US troops and Pakistani military in Waziristan.
Predicting the "defeat" of Pakistani military in its fight against the Taliban in North West Frontier Province, a top Al-Qaeda commander on Monday warned that if his group takes over Islamabad's nuclear weapons, it will "use them" against the United States.
Pakistan military used warplanes and attack helicopters to dislodge Taliban militants blocking its bid to overrun their strong bases as 13 militants were killed in continuing heavy fighting for the key towns of Kotkai, Makeen and Ladha in the country's lawless tribal belt.
At least 45 Taliban fighters and four security personnel were killed when Pakistani troops repelled an overnight attack by militants on a paramilitary camp in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region, officials said on Sunday.
The Pakistani Taliban confirmed on Tuesday, that its chief Hakimullah Mehsud had died of injuries sustained in a US drone strike, ending weeks of speculation over his fate.Taliban sources based in the Aurakzai tribal region told TV news channels that 28-year-old Mehsud was severely injured in a drone attack in Shaktoi area of North Waziristan Agency on January 14.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq warned of "harsh response" to any military attack on its main stronghold of South Waziristan, as Pakistani fighter jets pounded their hideouts in the area where reports said an all out offensive was imminent.
He was once General Pervez Musharraf's blue eyed boy, receiving a cash award of Rs 100,000 in 2000 from Pakistan's then president for killing an Indian Army officer. Eighteen months later, after 9/11, Musharraf declared him a terrorist.
In a jolt to militants, elders of the Mehsud tribe on Wednesday said they would hand over 378 men, including Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, wanted by the authorities and back the government's efforts to restore peace in South Waziristan.
Two days after Pakistani Taliban appointed a new chief, a US drone today targeted one of the key commanders Waliur Rehman as it fired missiles on his stronghold in South Waziristan killing eight people, mostly militants and wounding another nine.
Faced by an impending offensive by the Pakistan military on its stronghold of Waziristan, the Pakistani Taliban have curtailed infighting amongst them only by coming up with a leadership power-sharing formula. Under the formula, 28-year-old Hakimullah Mehsud has been chosen as chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, while his rival claimant Wali-ur Rehman would continue to control the organisation's affairs as he did in Baitullah's time, The News reported.
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.
An editorial in a Pakistani daily has claimed that intelligence outfits of India and Afghanistan funded late Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
US drones fired missiles targeting the house of a local man identified as Dilbar in Indi Khel village in Bannu, which is part of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, and killed four people including two foreigners, TV channels reported.
A United States drone fired two missiles in Pakistan's northwest tribal region on Thursday night amid anti-drone protests being staged in the country.
In a major catch, Pakistani Taliban's top spokesman Maulvi Omar has been arrested along with his two associates in the lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan, reports said on Tuesday.
Defence Secretary Mattis said he cannot certify that Islamabad has taken 'sufficient actions' against the dreaded Haqqani terror network.
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.
A top Al-Qaeda commander has reportedly been killed in a US drone attack in South Waziristan's Ladha region. Fox News reported that neither Al-Qaeda chief Osama-bin-Laden or Qaeda's second man-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri were among those killed in the attack.
There was no official word on the development. Pakistani authorities rarely confirm US drone attacks or provide details of casualties.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, in an exclusive interview to rediff.com's Tahir Ali, has said that the increase in American troops will only provide the Taliban with more opportunities to attack. It has also claimed that the Pakistani Army's operations have done no damage to its strength and that it is as strong as it was earlier.
"We will wait till January for our offensive since we are stronger during the snowing season," said Hakimullah, who was made chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan after his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack in August
Two suspected operatives of Al Qaeda have been arrested in New Delhi and Odisha and Delhi Police on Wednesday claimed to have busted a module of the terror group's Indian sub-continent wing operating out of the country.
Indian intelligence agencies and military experts, who have been watching the developments in Pakistan closely, say the military operation is a lot more complex than it seems to be and in the end, might even result in a direct threat to India.
Pakistan on Monday said its anti-Taliban operations in Swat had entered the final phase with troops having "totally dismantled" the militants' infrastructure, even as over 30 rebels and 16 soldiers were killed in fresh fighting in the unruly North West Frontier Province and Waziristan.
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.
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