Mehsuds hedge bets as game on to isolate Baitullah

[ajpirzada]

By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent

ISLAMABAD— Expecting to wrap up its military offensive in Swat within days, the government is already preparing for a second front in Waziristan by building an alliance with two of its powerful commanders against top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.
"Talks are underway with Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Mullah Nazir to single out Baitullah Mehsud," a senior intelligence official told IslamOnline.net on condition of anonymity.

"I won’t say that talks have turned out to be successful, but I can say with full conviction that there is a considerable progress in this connection."

Defense Secretary Syed Athar Ali told a security forum in Singapore Sunday, May 31, that a month-long offensive in Swat could end within days after troops secured the valley's main town of Mingora.
"Operations in Swat, Buner and adjoining areas have almost met complete success," he said.

"Only five to ten percent of the job is remaining and hopefully within the next two to three days these pockets of resistance will be cleared."

The army is almost certain to move its battle against local Taliban to the Waziristan region on near the Afghan border.

The military said it killed 15 militants and lost three soldiers in an attack on a security checkpoint in South Waziristan late Saturday, May 30.

Ten militants and four troops were killed in another attack on a military convoy in the semi-autonomous tribal area, which the US describes as a haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.

"He (Mehsud) is in war with us now," says the intelligence official.

Mehsud group has already claimed responsibility for two deadly attacks on a local headquarters of country’s powerful Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in Lahore and on a market in Peshawar last week.

Powerful Allies

As the army strengthens its positions around restive Waziristan, Islamabad is trying to court the two influential militant commanders who have lately been at odds with Mehsud.

The aim is to form an alliance against Mehsud and his Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella of various Taliban groups in the northern tribal belt.

"The support of the two commanders will be crucial vis-à-vis success of the imminent military action in South Waziristan," says the intelligence official.

"If Bahadur agrees to help us, that would be great, but even if he stays neutral there will be no front in North Waziristan. And we would be able to pay attention to South Waziristan."

Bahadur is a powerful commander of North Waziristan. He snatched the control of a large number of militants based in the region after differences with Baitullah Mehsud.

Nazir commands a force of 2000 well-trained militants of the Ahmedzai Wazir tribe, which has had old rivalries with the Mehsud tribe.

Nazir is known as the leader of Punjabi Taliban and is based in Wana, the capital of South Waziristan.

Both Bahadur and Nazir are the most influential TTP commanders after Mehsud.

The three had joined the Shura Ittehad-ul-Mujahiddin coalition few months ago.

"The prime agenda of the alliance was to accelerate attacks on NATO troops," says the intelligence official, adding that it did not succeed because Mehsud remained determined to mount attacks inside Pakistan.

"There are no more good ties between Mehsud and the two commanders."

Islamabad has already hatched a strategy to press Mehsud within South Waziristan from two sides with the help of Nazir and Bahadur.

Intelligence agencies have reportedly wooed a small group led by Zaiunddin Mehsud, one of the lieutenants of Baitullah Mehsud who commands a group of 600 militants and who has also had differences with Mehsud lately.

Mehsud is Pakistan's most wanted man and is blamed for the 2007 assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.

Once described by Newsweek as more dangerous than Osama Bin Laden, Mehsud was listed by Time magazine in 2008 as one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Pakistan's Divide-and-Rule Waziristan Plan - IslamOnline.net - News

 

[batmannow]

Mehsuds hedge bets as game on to isolate Baitullah
www.dawn.com

By Ismail Khan
Tuesday, 16 Jun, 2009 | 04:55 AM PST |

PESHAWAR: When jets of the Pakistan Air Force struck Makeen - a key trade centre of Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan - last week, ostensibly to avenge the suicide bombing in Lahore that killed religious scholar Dr Sarfaraz Naeemi, it was the culmination of a two-month long in-house debate within the military establishment on how to deal with Baitullah Mehsud.

It was, perhaps, the first significant indication that the military establishment - long derided for avoiding taking the chief of Pakistani Taliban head-on - had had enough.

‘He has a hand in virtually every terrorist attack in Pakistan,’ Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had said recently.

‘We wanted to deliver a message to Baitullah. If he carries out a suicide bombing, then there will be a response and that he can’t get away with these attacks. There will be a quid pro quo,’ a senior military officer said.

To be sure, the government had the message delivered to the Taliban supreme personally through tribal intermediaries.

Battle lines have been drawn in South Waziristan. Although several new emerging factors may help the military action, the mother of all battles against Pakistani militants in South Waziristan, in all likelihood, will be tough and bloody.

The major factor, in this fast-changing scenario, is an anti-Baitullah Mehsud alliance between Turkistan - a 40-year-old veteran of the Afghan war, and Qari Zainuddin, a young lad in his mid-twenties leading a group once commanded by the late Abdullah Mehsud.

Many Mehsud tribesmen and government officials overseeing tribal affairs agree that more than any military operation, it is Qari Zainuddin who seems to have unruffled the seemingly invincible Baitullah Mehsud.

‘The environment that made Baitulllah is no more,’ a senior government official said. ‘For the first time he has a challenger from within his Mehsud clan. Baitullah Mehsud is in trouble,’ he added.

A Mehsud tribesman concurred. ‘Baitullah told a jirga member recently he was not too much worried about military action against him.’ It’s Zainuddin who has caused him anxiety, the Mehsud tribesman said.

Like Baitullah, Zainuddin is a native Mehsud and has been leading his own militant group once led by Abdullah Mehsud - a one-legged fiery fighter and former Guantanamo detainee, who was killed in a commando action in Zhob, Balochistan, in July 2006.

Zainuddin and Abdullah’s other comrades blamed Baitullah for orchestrating the death. And they had their reasons.

Long before Baitullah burst on to the scene, Abdullah was the undisputed leader of Mehsud tribal militants. All that changed with the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers in Oct 2004 that ended days later with the death of one of the hostages.

Power play

Baitullah was not amused. Thus began a systematic push to dethrone Abdullah and cut him down to size. A formula brokered by the Taliban from Afghanistan meant Abdullah’s position was further weakened.

Soon he would have to leave his native Waziristan to fight in Afghanistan, leaving his fighters to fend for themselves. Many of them didn’t live long enough to fight.

Zainuddin and his small band of fighters took refuge in Shakai, in the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe territory of South Waziristan.

Turkistan, who had retired as a sepoy from South Waziristan Scouts of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in 1998 to fight for the Taliban in Afghanistan, was once friends with Baitullah Mehsud. ‘We fought together in Afghanistan,’ he once said.

The slaughter of some FC jawans and Baitullah’s other actions, he added, made him leave the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan chief. ‘Don’t poke your nose in this,’ he quoted Baitullah as telling him.

He has paid dearly for his desertion and has since lost 73 relatives in a war of attrition, including eight members of his family.

Revenge appears to be their sole motivation but this, government officials believe, would also prompt score others who have lost their near and dear ones in years of targeted killings. Sentiments are such that were Baitullah to be eliminated, no one would weep for him, the official said.

Already Turkistan, a Bhittani by tribe, and Zainuddin have made it difficult for Baitullah’s men to operate freely in neighbouring Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts.

‘The remaining few would be taken care of soon,’ Turkistan boasts.

And the government is helping, if not directly, then by turning a blind eye to the duo’s activities. During the past one month or so, Baitullah has lost more than thirty men in target killings in the twin districts.

This may have helped shape the ‘environment’, as one official put it. The government’s recognition matters. In Feb 2007 the government had recognised Baitullah Mehsud as the Mehsud chieftain by signing a peace deal with him. Now it is backing a different horse and the Mehsuds appear willing to bet on it.

A jirga of Mehsud tribal elders at Qari Zainuddin’s invitation met in Tank to deliver a message to that most feared man in Sourh Waziristan, something that would have been unthinkable a year ago. Another jirga has been planned for Wednesday.

This in itself has created a damn-if-you-do and damn-if-you-don’t situation for these tribal chiefs, who are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Some of the influential figures who had been leading negotiations in the past have opted for ‘medical treatment’ in Islamabad.

The tribal dynamics and punitive action, government officials believe, should tilt the balance against the man who carries $ 5 million reward for information leading to his capture or death.

Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani on Sunday evening ordered military action – a constitutional requirement to authorise the use of force, but it was also a cue to his administration to go tough on the Mehsud tribe.

A notification has since been issued under the Frontier Crimes Regulation to authorise the arrest of Mehsud tribesmen and seizure of their properties.

Efforts are under way to neutralise Maulvi Nazeer and Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the two top militant commanders from South and North Waziristan. The two had forged an alliance with Baitullah Mehsud last year.

They had pledged to stand by Baitullah in the event of any military action and there is no indication that they will renege on their word, although some Wazir tribesmen believe tribal pragmatism will take care of this.

Economic blockade

As a quid pro quo and reward to the Ahmadzai Wazirs, the government has opened the Gomal Zam Road that links Wana, South Waziristan’s regional headquarters, with Tank district, bypassing Mehsud territory. The move ended Wazirs’ dependence on supplies to the Ahmadzai Wazir heartland.

This, say some security analysts, will help the military impose an effective economic blockade on the Mehsud tribe.

‘It’s fairly easy. All that we need to do is to block the three main roads that go into Mehsud territory and you will have choked them up effectively,’ a senior military officer said.

And this may well be the strategy. Perhaps military strategists hope that the Zainuddin-Bhittani partnership and a suffocating economic blockade would force Mehsud tribesmen to desert Baitullah in droves, making things easy for the army.

But, warn some analysts, that this is far easier said than done. Baitullah is no ordinary man. He is the chief of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and enjoys the support of thousands of committed fighting men operating in one of the toughest terrains in the entire tribal region.

Having lost in Swat, Bajaur and Mohmand, militants are reported to be heading in that direction for one last stand.

Two previous military operations failed to cause a dent in Baitullah’s ranks. On the contrary, it turned the militant commander into a mythical figure who has at his disposal an arsenal of, what a former Mehsud parliamentarian once described, walking, talking and breathing bombs - a weapon he has used with telling effect.

‘It’s like sitting in the front row and watching a horror movie,’ a security official said. ‘I get nightmares when I think of the potential destruction and bloodshed this man can cause,’ said another official.

But the news is out already: families living in Mehsud territory are making a beeline to Tank, Dera Ismail Khan and other nearby places. This is the third displacement from the region.

On the previous occasion the military launched what it called a three-star operation, but stopped short of achieving its objective. The Mehsuds are worldly wise. They will take their time, wait and see which side is winning before making their own bets.

 

[waraich66]

Baitullah is strongest militant leader in FATA and had links with Mullah Omar and Al Qaida ,there is also chance he had developed links with greater enemy of Pakistan .

Presently whole nation is aganist talaban but if drone attacks continue they can reverse again the direction of winds.

 

[dabong1]

Baitullah is strongest militant leader in FATA and had links with Mullah Omar and Al Qaida ,there is also chance he had developed links with greater enemy of Pakistan .

Mullah omar has been anti Baitullah.

 

[batmannow]

Mullah omar has been anti Baitullah.

i guss, not all these religious thugs, can do anything !
they can become friends to any one , if they had any intersts .
i guss, mulla OMAR dont really care , from where Baitullah is getting the support from, all he cares is the numbers of peoples killed in a SS attack, thats it!
the most important ,aim is killing to prove tht, they are fighting "JIHAD".

i guss, PAKARMY shouldnt let , Baitullah survive this time!

 

[dabong1]

i guss, not all these religious thugs, can do anything !
they can become friends to any one , if they had any intersts .
i guss, mulla OMAR dont really care , from where Baitullah is getting the support from, all he cares is the numbers of peoples killed in a SS attack, thats it!
the most important ,aim is killing to prove tht, they are fighting "JIHAD".

i guss, PAKARMY shouldnt let , Baitullah survive this time!

In a letter to the militants, who have forged a new alliance, Mulla Omar admonished them not to fight the Pakistani security forces and kill their Muslim brethren, a reliable source told The News on Monday.

“Mulla Omar first sent an envoy to the local Taliban and then wrote a letter to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) admonishing these leaders and told the TTP that fighting Muslims could not be described as Jihad so they should immediately cease attacks on the Pakistani security forces.

He told them that if they really want to participate in Jihad, they must fight the US and Nato troops inside Afghanistan because their attacks on the Pakistani security forces are undermining the objectives of the war against the invaders and cause of the Taliban movement.

“If anybody really wants to wage Jihad, he must fight the occupation forces inside Afghanistan,” the source quoted Mulla Omar as having told the TTP leaders. “Attacks on the Pakistani security forces and killing of fellow Muslims by the militants in the tribal areas and elsewhere in Pakistan is bringing a bad name to Mujahideen and harming the war against the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan.”

“Our aim is to liberate Afghanistan from the occupation forces and death and destruction inside neighbouring Pakistan has never been our goal,” he added. The source said according to Mulla Omar, the US was devising a new strategy and adopting new tactics to crush Mujahideen in Afghanistan so the Taliban, too, must forge unity in their ranks, and instead of operating in Pakistan, they must concentrate on actions against the US and Nato forces.
Mulla Omar orders halt to attacks on Pak troops

 

[SummerWine]

DAWN.COM | Front Page | Time not right for Waziristan operation: US scholar

Time not right for Waziristan operation: US scholar
By Our Correspondent
Monday, 15 Jun, 2009 | 03:15 AM PST WASHINGTON, June 14: The time is not right for a military offensive in South Waziristan as it will create more chaos and brings no real victory, warns a US scholar.

“The Obama administration has shown a refreshing realism in its policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan,” says Nicholas Schmidle, a fellow at the New America Foundation. “If it wants to succeed there, it should encourage the Pakistani army to stay out of Waziristan — at least for now.”

Mr Schmidle, who spent two years in Pakistan after 9/11, notes that although South Waziristan is slightly smaller than Connecticut, “Waziristanis have acquired an outsize reputation as recalcitrant tough guys”.

The writer then quotes Lord Curzon, an early 20th century British viceroy of India as warning: “No patchwork scheme will settle the Waziristan problem. Not until the military steamroller has passed over the country from end to end, will there be peace. But I do not want to be the person to start that machine.”

Mr Schmidle then points out that despite what he says in public, President Asif Ali Zardari doesn’t want to start it either.

The author notes that South Waziristan, unlike Swat, has been under Taliban rule for most of the past decade. The March 2004 military offensive forced the army and the then military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf to seek an exit strategy.

Since then the Taliban have repelled several other operations and, in 2007, kidnapped more than 200 soldiers.

“Does that make it impossible for the Pakistani army to defeat them today? Not necessarily,” notes the author. “But it is unrealistic to believe that the Pakistani army could continue fighting Taliban remnants in Swat, remain heavily deployed along the border with India and dedicate enough troops in South Waziristan to resemble a steamroller.”

Another stumbling block for the Pakistani military in South Waziristan is that they have an almost equal number of jihadist friends and enemies.

Besides, Mr Schmidle points out, a noisy military operation is not a sure way to nab people like Osama bin Laden or his lieutenant Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

If drones and commandos haven’t found them so far, a noisy, invading battalion of Pakistani troops probably won’t, either, says the author.

Mr Schmidle claims that Swat and South Waziristan today are like Afghanistan and Iraq in 2003: Rushing into the latter would almost certainly jeopardise success in the former.

The author points out that the Pashtuns who live on either side of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, are watching to see whether the army is serious about finishing off Maulana Fazlullah’s Taliban in Swat. They are also watching more closely than anyone to see the fate of millions of Pashtuns who have fled their homes in and around Swat as a result of the army offensive.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Ahmedzai Wazirs scramble to keep their areas safe​

* Taliban digging tunnels in mountains, mining routes likely to be used by army

By Iqbal Khattak

PESHAWAR: Ahmedzai Wazir tribes are making last-ditch efforts in a bid to keep a military offensive against Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan off their areas, amid shelling in the region, as the Taliban dig tunnels in mountains for protection against bombing, said elders and locals on Tuesday.

“We have been shuttling between the Taliban and the government for three days to reach some sort of an understanding to keep the Taliban from joining Baitullah,” the elders told Daily Times over the telephone from Wana, after talks with the political administration.

The Wazir elders claimed top Taliban leaders had accepted their request to ”remain disengaged with Baitullah” in case the military moved against him, but only if the government met certain demands.

”We cannot say what these demands are,” the elders replied when asked for details. ”What we can tell you is that the military is unwilling to accept the Taliban demands.”

The Wazir elders met top Taliban leaders at an undiclsoed location on Tuesday, to discuss ways to keep Wazir areas safe.

Meanwhile, Taliban loyal to Baitullah are preparing for the military offensive by digging tunnels in mountains and mining routes the army could use.

Meanwhile, the security forces continued pounding Taliban positions from Jandola Manzai, Sarwakai and Chaghmalai forts.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
--------------------------------------------------

Not necessarily looking too good in terms of keeping Mullah Nazir and Gul Bahadur from joining with Baitullah.

The 'demands' from the Taliban in the Wazir territory - if I were to hazard a guess I would say that they revolve around unrestricted operations in Afghanistan, end to drone strikes and possibly withdrawal of the Army/CF from Wazir territory.

 

[DarkStar]

Considering the previous bad blood between Gul/Nazir and Mehsud, do you really think that they will come to his rescue, notwithstanding the recent show of 'unity'? @AM.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Considering the previous bad blood between Gul/Nazir and Mehsud, do you really think that they will come to his rescue, notwithstanding the recent show of 'unity'? @AM.

IMO that depends upon whether they see their own long term survival at risk with the departure of the largest challenger to the Pakistani state, Baitullah Mehsud and his TTP.

Baitullah provides a convenient distraction from their efforts in Afghanistan - so long as BM keeps the attention of Pakistani security forces the amount of leverage Pakistan can exercise on Nazir and Bahadur is limited.

With BM and a large chunk of his TTP spread throughout FATA eliminated, Pakistan can bring about a great degree of pressure on the remaining Taliban, so it may be in their interest to try and prevent the TTP from being wiped out completely.

Alternatively, these commanders may also bank upon the fact that their reputation as primarily operating in Afghanistan, and refusing to attack the military or carry out terrorism in Pakistan may result in a lack of support from the media, Pakistanis and their own tribes if the GoP tries to forcibly shut them down after the TTP is dispensed with.

In such a scenario it may in fact behoove them to eliminate BM and his TTP, since his presence and actions complicate how their efforts in Afghanistan are viewed by Pakistanis.

 

[Xeric]

Activities within Pakistan led to differences with Baitullah Meshsud: Qari Zain

Updated at: 2214 PST, Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Activities within Pakistan led to differences with Baitullah Meshsud: Qari Zain MIRANSHAH: Qari Zainuddin Mehsud has said that the agreement with the government is still intact.

In an exclusive interview with Geo News, Qari Zainuddin said: “Islam does not allow carrying out activities within Pakistan and this is the main cause that led to the difference with Baitullah Mehsud.”

He said scholars like Maulana Hasan Jan declared suicide attacks as un-Islamic. The declaration led to the killing of Maulan Hasan, he added.

“Islam cannot spread with the use of force but with invitation,” Qari Zain observed.

He said one should think as to why the people who train suicide attackers not sacrifice their loved ones for the purpose. Baitullah Mehsud is ‘zalim’ (cruel) and responsible for all the destruction, he added.

Qari Zain said security forces actions will be only against Baituallah Mehsud and not the common people have nothing to do with it.

“We are Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan and we have nothing to do with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan,” he clarified.

 

[SparklingCrescent]

Thursday, June 18, 2009
Says Mehsud commander has links with India, Israel; TTP claims Zain is playing into govt hands

News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Qari Zainuddin, a rival commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban Chief Baitullah Mehsud, on Wednesday accused the TTP chief of having links with India and Israel. He acted against Islam as well as the country and if not eliminated now, militancy would surge and problems for the government would grow.

In an exclusive interview with Geo News, Zainuddin Mehsud said though Baitullah was wearing the cap of Mujahideen but all his actions were against Islam and the country, adding they would support military action against him.

Qari Zainuddin recalled that his group and Baitullah Mehsud’s were together with Abdullah Mehsud prior to his killing. After his death, Baitullah Mehsud founded the Tehrik-e-Taliban, Pakistan leading to differences between his group and Baitullah’s. The split came over Baitullah Mehsud’s activities inside Pakistan, that Islam did not permit.

Zainuddin said after their split, they moved to Shakai.

Qari said when Maulana Hasan Jan declared suicide attacks “Haram” (forbidden) under Islam, he was martyred within three days. “These people (Baitullah) are working against Islam. When Baitullah accepts responsibilities for all such actions there is no doubt about his hand in the same,” Commander Zainuddin Mehsud said. About Baitullah’s links with al-Qaeda, the Qari said he did not know about any such thing.

On the other hand, a Taliban commander from Orakzai Hafiz Saeed rejected the claims of Qari Zainuddin. He told Geo News that Zain was playing into the hands of the government to defame the TTP. He said the Qari is neither the successor of Baitullah nor has any affiliation with the TTP.

Qari Zainuddin also conceded differences between his group and Baitullah’s when late Abdullah Mehsud took over the movement. They separated over suicide attacks and actions inside Pakistan. Actually, the Taliban movement had been formed to fight against the foreign forces in Afghanistan but Baitullah turned against Pakistan.

Zainuddin said they would have no objection if the Army launches action against Baitullah, adding if the Taliban moved into their area they would fight against them. “We would stand by the Ulema and elders of the area,” he said. He said they would welcome any action against Baitullah either by the military or by the local people. However, they would give preference to the action against Baitullah by the Mehsuds themselves adding this way casualties would be minimised. He said that his peace accord with the government is intact

Qari Zain said that Mulla Nazir in South Waziristan and Gul Bahadur in North Waziristan were their allies. They are part of Tehrik-e-Taliban Afghanistan and their alliance is against infidels and foreign troops in the neighbouring country. Foreign militants including Uzbeks were evicted from the Wazir areas by peace loving Taliban. However, in the Mehsud-inhabited areas there were around 450 to 1,500 Uzbeks. He denied having heard about the presence of Arabs in the area.

Qari Zainuddin said the whole of Fata and areas around the Durand Line including Paktika and Paktia are inhabited by the same tribesmen. People move on either side of the border whether it was peace then or strife now.

To a question about Pakistan’s alliance with the United States, he said it was for the state to adopt a policy. He said if people and Ulema support action against Baitullah Mehsud, he would be eliminated otherwise he would create more problems for the country. “It is time to eliminate Baitullah now, otherwise no such opportunity would come in future and he would further increase headache for the government,” Zain warned.




Rival commander wants Baitullah eliminated now

 

[SparklingCrescent]

Thursday, June 18, 2009

News Desk

RAWALPINDI: Haji Turkistan Betani, a former close aide of Baitullah Mahsud, has claimed that assassination of Benazir Bhutto was plotted by Baitullah.

Talking to Sana Bucha in Crisis Cell programme of Geo News, Haji Turkistan said that he was with Baitullah, who had stated that he had sent two persons to Rawalpindi for assassinating Benazir Bhutto. He also revealed that Baitullah is an American agent and this is the reason he has not been targeted by the US drones.


Haji Turkistan said that Baitullah is misguiding innocent youths on the instigation by Israel and India to destroy mosques and educational institutions and martyr religious scholars inside Pakistan. The detailed interview of Haji Turkistan Betani will be aired by Geo News in its Crisis Cell programme at 7.05 p.m. today.



Baitullah is US agent, claims former close aide

wat? wat if U.S is relly in this $hit... then wat will Pakistan do?

 

[TexasJohn]

That must be why we have a $5 million reward out for him. Never mind the fact that he has already threatened the US...

The Captain’s Journal Baitullah Mehsud Threatens Washington

The commander of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday for a deadly assault on a Pakistani police academy and said the group was planning a terrorist attack on the White House that would “amaze” the world.

Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S., said Monday’s attack on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore was retaliation for U.S. missile strikes against militants along the Afghan border.

“Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world,” Mehsud told The Associated Press by phone. He provided no details.

Mehsud has never been directly linked to any attacks outside Pakistan, but attacks blamed on his network of fighters have widened in scope and ambition in recent years. The threat comes days after President Barack Obama warned that al-Qaida is actively planning attacks on the United States from secret havens in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s former government and the CIA named Mehsud as the prime suspect behind the December 2007 killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Pakistani officials accuse him of harboring foreign fighters, including Central Asians linked to al-Qaida, and of training suicide bombers.

In his latest comments, Mehsud identified the White House as one of the targets in an interview with local Dewa Radio, a copy of which was obtained by the AP.

 

[Beskar]

Activities within Pakistan led to differences with Baitullah Meshsud: Qari Zain

Wednesday, June 17, 2009



Activities within Pakistan led to differences with Baitullah Meshsud: Qari Zain

----------------------------------------------------------------------​

MIRANSHAH: Qari Zainuddin Mehsud has said that the agreement with the government is still intact.

In an exclusive interview with Geo News, Qari Zainuddin said: “Islam does not allow carrying out activities within Pakistan and this is the main cause that led to the difference with Baitullah Mehsud.”

He said scholars like Maulana Hasan Jan declared suicide attacks as un-Islamic. The declaration led to the killing of Maulan Hasan, he added.

“Islam cannot spread with the use of force but with invitation,” Qari Zain observed.

He said one should think as to why the people who train suicide attackers not sacrifice their loved ones for the purpose. Baitullah Mehsud is ‘zalim’ (cruel) and responsible for all the destruction, he added.

Qari Zain said security forces actions will be only against Baituallah Mehsud and not the common people have nothing to do with it.

“We are Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan and we have nothing to do with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan,” he clarified.