Drone kills Mehsuds wife
6 AUGUST 2009
By Mushtaq Yusufzai & Irfan Burki
PESHAWAR/WANA: Four people, including the younger wife of banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud, were killed and a few others critically injured in a drone attack on the house of Baitullahs father-in-law in Zangara village of Laddha subdivision in the South Waziristan Agency (SWA).
Taliban sources close to Baitullah Mehsud confirmed the killing of his wife in the drone attack, but strongly denied the reports that the TTP chief too was killed in the missile strikes. Yes, I can confirm this bad news about the loss of his wife, said a senior Taliban commander, based in Mirali, North Waziristan Agency, who wished not to be named. He, however, denied reports that Baitullah Mehsud too was killed in the strike.
He said the second wife of the TTP leader and four children were injured but their condition was stable. Official and tribal sources told The News from the troubled tribal region that the US spy plane fired two missiles at the house of Ikramuddin Mehsud. They said the attack took place on credible information about the presence of the TTP leader in the house.
Some family members of Malik Ikramuddin told The News that Baitullah Mehsud often visited the house to meet his family members. However, they said they were not aware whether the Taliban commander was present in the house when it was struck at around 2am on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.
Relatives of Ikramuddin were surprised over the accuracy of the target hit by the spy planes, saying the US aircraft hit the room where Baitullah usually stayed with his family. Officials said it was the first casualty of any close relatives of the Pakistani Taliban commander in US missile strikes.
His brother Yahya Mehsud was killed in mysterious circumstances in Bannu last year. Mohammad Iqbal, a nephew of Malik Ikramuddin, told reporters that a woman was killed and four children were injured in the drone attack on his uncles house.
He said Baitullah was not present in the house during the attack and thus remained safe. He said around 40 people, including the family head Malik Ikramuddin, were staying in the house when it was attacked. He claimed only one room of the large house was damaged in the missile strikes.
Baitullah married the daughter of Ikramuddin, a tribal elder from the Shabikhel branch of Mehsud tribe, in October last year. Baitullah, too, is from the Shabikhel Mehsud clan. Hakimullah Mehsud, deputy to Baitullah Mehsud, confirmed the attack on the house of his leaders father-in-law, but denied the loss of his wife. There is no truth in media reports that the said wife of Ameer Saib (Baitullah) has been killed in the drone attack, the Taliban commander told media persons from an undisclosed location. He said Baitullah had already withdrawn his family from the area when the situation deteriorated as a result of the military operation launched by the government against them.
