Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud killed in drone attack
DAWN.COM and
ZAHIR SHAH SHERAZI
PESHAWAR/KARACHI: Hakimullah Mehsud, the chief of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was killed in a US drone strike in North Waziristan tribal agency on Friday, intelligence officials and Pakistani Taliban said.
Intelligence officials said the Pakistani Taliban supremo was leaving from a meeting at a mosque in Dande Darpakhel area of North Waziristan when the drone targeted their vehicle.
Pakistani Taliban militants said that funeral for the TTP chief will be held tomorrow afternoon at an undisclosed location in North Waziristan.
Pakistan government is, however, yet to confirm the death of Hakimullah Mehsud. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told a private TV channel that he could not confirm reports of the TTP chief's death.
Five militants, including Abdullah Bahar Mehsud and Tariq Mehsud, both key militant commanders and close aides of the TTP chief, were also killed with two others injured in the drone strike, multiple sources confirmed.
The Taliban sources told Dawn.com that Hakimullah was shifted to a hospital after the drone strike but he succumbed to his injuries on the way. The locals said the drones had been carrying out low flights in various parts of North Waziristan since morning.
The South Waziristan Taliban chief, Khan Said Sajna alias Khalid is likely to succeed Hakimullah Mehsud as TTP chief.
Chief of Mohmand Taliban Umar Khalid Khurasani is also a strong contestant for the slot as he is the only surviving senior Taliban commander who had directly commanded operations under Hakimullah.
Mullah Fazlullah, the chief of the Swat Taliban, is another senior Taliban commander but unlikely to replace the assassinated TTP chief for not belonging to Mehsud clan.
Foreign news agency AP reports that a senior US intelligence official confirmed the strike overnight, saying the US received positive confirmation Friday morning that he had been killed.
The CIA and the White House declined to comment on the reported death. The US National Counterterrorism Center describes Mehsud as “the self-proclaimed amir of the Pakistani Taliban.”
Speaking to Dawn, Jen Psaki, the spokesperson for the US State Department said: “We have seen those reports but we don’t have anything for you on that. The reports just came out. We have a close cooperative relationship with Pakistan on various issues, including counter-terrorism but I do not have anything specific for you on Pakistan on this report.”
Reacting to the incident, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan – a strong opponent of US drone strikes –
demanded the government to immediately block the Nato supplies going through the country. His party is set to table resolutions in KP Assembly and National Assembly on Monday in this regard.
Mehsud has been reported dead several times before. But late on Friday, several intelligence, army and militant sources across the country confirmed he had been killed in the strike in the lawless North Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, strongly condemning the Friday’s US drone attack in North Waziristan, Pakistan government reiterated that these strikes are a violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
Foreign Office Spokesman Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry in a statement said that there was an across the board consensus in Pakistan that these drone strikes must end.
He said the government has consistently maintained that drone strikes are counter-productive, entail loss of innocent civilian lives and have human rights and humanitarian implications. Such strikes also set dangerous precedents in the inter-state relations, he added.
The spokesman said these strikes have a negative impact on the mutual desire of both US and Pakistan to forge a cordial and cooperative relationship and to ensure peace and stability in the region.
Hakimullah Mehsud: A brief profile
Dande Darpakhel area is located five kilometres (three miles) north of Miramshah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal region, said to be a stronghold for the Pakistani Taliban.
The strike came a day after
three insurgents were killed in another drone attack that also targeted a rebel compound near Miramshah. The US unmanned plane was still flying in the area after the attack.
Condemning the drone strikes, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had earlier said these were aimed at sabotaging efforts to establish peace in the country.
“A delegation was about to be sent to talk to Taliban tomorrow (Saturday),” said the minister hinting that a "senior militant commander" may have been killed in today’s strike.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid earlier today said they have had
“no contact” with the government, a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said a process to initiate
peace talks had been started.
The incident comes a week after Sharif urged US President Barack Obama to stop drone strikes during a meeting in Washington.
The Pakistani defence ministry Wednesday said 317 US drone strikes in the country's tribal areas had killed 67 civilians and 2,160 militants in Pakistan since 2008.
US drone attacks are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, but Washington sees them as a vital tool in the fight against militants in the lawless tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.
The Pakistani government has repeatedly protested against drone strikes as a violation of its sovereignty. But privately officials have been reported as saying the attacks can be useful in removing militants from the country.