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C.I.A. Missile Strike May Have Killed Pakistans Taliban Leader, Officials Say
WASHINGTON The C.I.A. missile strike in Pakistans tribal areas on Wednesday may have killed Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the countrys fearsome Taliban militia, American and Pakistani officials said Thursday.
Officials in Washington and Islamabad were scrambling to make sense of communications intercepts and other intelligence that seemed to indicate that Mr. Mehsud might have been killed in the strike. By Thursday evening, American officials said they were growing increasingly confident that the Taliban leader was dead.
Still, they cautioned that it may be weeks before they are certain, and they may never gain access to the remote location in South Waziristan to perform DNA tests.
There is reason to believe that reports of his death may be true, but it cant be confirmed at this time, said an American official with access to classified intelligence reports.
Mr. Mehsud and his military network have been blamed for a wave of violence across Pakistan, including the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistani prime minister.
The militant leader also seemed to take pleasure in taunting Pakistani officials and holding news conferences to demonstrate the inability of officials in Islamabad to rein in his network.
Mr. Mehsud pledged to attack Washington, but American officials did not take the threat seriously. Still, his network is believed to have close ties to Qaeda leaders in Pakistans tribal areas.
The C.I.A. made killing Mr. Mehsud one of its top priorities this year, partly at the urging of Pakistans civilian government. Pakistani officials, including President Asif Ali Zardari, had complained that the campaign of missile strikes by American drones was killing only militants responsible for killing American troops in Afghanistan.
Since then, the State Department has offered a reward of as much as $5 million for Mr. Mehsud. The C.I.A. also began trying to track his daily movements, and American intelligence officials believed on several occasions that they had almost killed him.
It is partly for this reason that officials remained cautious on Thursday about drawing definitive conclusions. Still, their confidence that Mr. Mehsud had been killed grew through the day.
Taking Mehsud off the battlefield would be a major victory, said an American counterterrorism official. The world, and certainly Pakistan, would be a safer place without him.
The strike by a drone early Wednesday morning hit a compound in the remote village of Zanghara, in South Waziristan. Village residents said that day that one of Mr. Mehsuds wives had been killed in the attack and that several children had been wounded.
Although President Obama has distanced himself from many of the Bush administrations counterterrorism policies, he has embraced and even expanded the C.I.A.s covert campaign in Pakistan using Predator and Reaper drones.
Pakistani officials publicly condemn these attacks, but they have privately given their blessing to the strikes in the countrys tribal areas, in part because the missile attacks increasingly have focused on Mr. Mehsuds network.
The news that Mr. Mehsud might have been killed was first reported on the Web site of ABC News.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/world/asia/07pstan.html?_r=2&ref=global-home
WASHINGTON The C.I.A. missile strike in Pakistans tribal areas on Wednesday may have killed Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the countrys fearsome Taliban militia, American and Pakistani officials said Thursday.
Officials in Washington and Islamabad were scrambling to make sense of communications intercepts and other intelligence that seemed to indicate that Mr. Mehsud might have been killed in the strike. By Thursday evening, American officials said they were growing increasingly confident that the Taliban leader was dead.
Still, they cautioned that it may be weeks before they are certain, and they may never gain access to the remote location in South Waziristan to perform DNA tests.
There is reason to believe that reports of his death may be true, but it cant be confirmed at this time, said an American official with access to classified intelligence reports.
Mr. Mehsud and his military network have been blamed for a wave of violence across Pakistan, including the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistani prime minister.
The militant leader also seemed to take pleasure in taunting Pakistani officials and holding news conferences to demonstrate the inability of officials in Islamabad to rein in his network.
Mr. Mehsud pledged to attack Washington, but American officials did not take the threat seriously. Still, his network is believed to have close ties to Qaeda leaders in Pakistans tribal areas.
The C.I.A. made killing Mr. Mehsud one of its top priorities this year, partly at the urging of Pakistans civilian government. Pakistani officials, including President Asif Ali Zardari, had complained that the campaign of missile strikes by American drones was killing only militants responsible for killing American troops in Afghanistan.
Since then, the State Department has offered a reward of as much as $5 million for Mr. Mehsud. The C.I.A. also began trying to track his daily movements, and American intelligence officials believed on several occasions that they had almost killed him.
It is partly for this reason that officials remained cautious on Thursday about drawing definitive conclusions. Still, their confidence that Mr. Mehsud had been killed grew through the day.
Taking Mehsud off the battlefield would be a major victory, said an American counterterrorism official. The world, and certainly Pakistan, would be a safer place without him.
The strike by a drone early Wednesday morning hit a compound in the remote village of Zanghara, in South Waziristan. Village residents said that day that one of Mr. Mehsuds wives had been killed in the attack and that several children had been wounded.
Although President Obama has distanced himself from many of the Bush administrations counterterrorism policies, he has embraced and even expanded the C.I.A.s covert campaign in Pakistan using Predator and Reaper drones.
Pakistani officials publicly condemn these attacks, but they have privately given their blessing to the strikes in the countrys tribal areas, in part because the missile attacks increasingly have focused on Mr. Mehsuds network.
The news that Mr. Mehsud might have been killed was first reported on the Web site of ABC News.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/world/asia/07pstan.html?_r=2&ref=global-home
