Score one for our Boys! wOOt!
Baitullah Mehsud, the main leader of Pakistan’s fearsome Taliban movement, was killed Wednesday in a C.I.A. drone missile strike, two Taliban fighters said Friday, though American and Pakistani officials could not confirm the reports.
Mr. Mehsud has been considered Pakistan’s public enemy No. 1 and was blamed for the assassination of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and scores of suicide bombings, including the truck bomb that exploded at the entrance to the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, leaving more than 50 people dead last September.
If confirmed, Mr. Mehsud’s death could be a significant blow to the militant networks inside Pakistan that in recent years have posed a direct challenge to the authority of the state, increasingly destabilizing the country.
But analysts and current and former Pakistani officials here warned that Mr. Mehsud’s death did not necessarily mean less violence for Pakistan, or that the Taliban movement in Pakistan would disappear, though for the time being its reach and unity could be diminished as Mr. Mehsud’s followers choose another leader.
“This is a major setback for the Taliban in Pakistan,” said Mahmood Shah, a former security chief in the tribal region. “He was the leader. The successors are all non-entities.”
via Taliban Leader in Pakistan Is Reportedly Killed – NYTimes.com.
Long War Journal Confirms it:
Baitullah Mehsud, the feared leader of the Pakistan Taliban, is believed to have been killed during the Aug. 5 airstrike in South Waziristan.
Faqir Mohammed, the deputy leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan and the commander of the Bajaur Taliban, told Sky News that Baitullah was killed in a strike that also killed Baitullah’s second wife.
An aide to Baitullah identified as Kafayatullah, as well as another unidentified Taliban leader in South Waziristan, also said that Baitullah had been killed in the attack.
“I confirm that Baitullah Mehsud and his wife died in the American missile attack in South Waziristan,” Kafayatullah told the Associated Press late last night.
Baitullah was said to have been buried near the village of Nardusai. “Some who had reportedly seen his body said that it had been half-destroyed by the blast,” the BBC stated.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, said intelligence believes that Baitullah was killed in Wednesday’s strike but the government wants to confirm the reports. US intelligence officials also believe that Baitullah was killed.
Reports indicate Baitullah was visiting a compound owned by Ikramuddin Mehsud, Baitullah’s father-in-law, in the village of Zanghra in the mountains near Baitullah’s home town of Makeen. The airstrike also reportedly killed one Baitullah’s two brothers and seven of Baitullah’s bodyguards.
US intelligence sources contacted by The Long War Journal last evening had initially believed Baitullah survived the attack.
Countdown to limp wrist liberals and “Old Right” Conservatives saying, “We got him, can we leave now?” In 5…..4….3…2…. I mean, these are the ones who say that Our troops are battlefield terrorists. So, this would not be a big surprise.
Anyhow, this is a good hit and it will only help in our continuing battle against the terrorists in Afghanistan.
Others: The Jawa Report, Newsweek, The Long War Journal,, PrairiePundit, and Power Line