Hakeemullah ‘seriously injured’ in drone attack
* TTP releases audiotape in ‘Hakeemullah’s voice’, warns against drone strikes
* ISPR DG says military probing reports of TTP chief’s death
* Says confirmation will take more time
By Iqbal Khattak
PESHAWAR: The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan warned the government on Friday against continued drone attacks in the Tribal Areas amid reports that TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud is “under treatment” for “serious injuries” sustained in a drone strike on Thursday.
The TTP warning came in a one-minute audio message – purportedly recorded in Hakeemullah’s voice – released by the group to local journalists a day after the drone strike targeted him in South Waziristan.
There was no independent confirmation of whether it was Hakeemullah’s voice in the audio message.
“There are reports that Hakeemullah was wounded in the attack and is under treatment at an undisclosed location,” official sources told Daily Times, but did not say what type of injures the TTP chief was being treated for. “There is a 20 percent chance that Hakeemullah will survive,” said the officials, citing sources close to top Taliban leaders.
The ISPR said the military was investigating reports of Hakeemullah’s death, according to the AFP news agency. “So far, we do not have confirmation of him either getting killed or getting injured. It will take a little more time,” ISPR chief Maj Gen Athar Abbas told AFP.
TTP spokesman Azam Tariq told Miranshah journalists over the phone that Hakeemullah left the targeted house moments before the drone strike.
The voice in the TTP message – which makes no mention of Thursday’s drone strike – says, “Drone attacks are a threat to Pakistan ... the TTP is ready to take any dangerous step [as a reaction].”