Pakistani Taliban admit Mehsud killed by US strike

[Akoto]

Source: Associated Press

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistani Taliban commanders acknowledged Tuesday that the militants' top leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was dead, ending weeks of claims and counterclaims over his fate following a U.S. missile strike on his father-in-law's home this month.

Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman, two of Mehsud's top aides and reportedly rivals to succeed him, called The Associated Press to say that their leader had died Sunday of injuries from the Aug. 5 strike in South Waziristan, near the Afghan border.

"He was wounded. He got the wounds in a drone strike, and he was martyred two days ago," Hakimullah Mehsud said. Rehman later repeated the same claim.

The Taliban had insisted for weeks - in periodic, sometimes contradictory telephone calls to media from various commanders - that Baitullah Mehsud was still alive following the missile strike, while U.S. and Pakistani officials said he was almost certainly dead and a leadership struggle had ensued.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_PAKISTAN?SITE=NCBER&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[ohio2007]

1. 'Pakistan must exploit Taliban leadership rifts' ( if they can )

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan must exploit rifts among Taliban commanders jostling to inherit the brutal legacy of rebel chief Baitullah Mehsud, analysts say, or risk the power vacuum being filled by Al-Qaeda.An heir apparent, Hakimullah Mehsud, has emerged in the battle to succeed Mehsud after his reported death near the Afghan border, but analysts and officials told AFP that infighting continued despite the claims and swirling rumours.Desperate to salvage unity among Taliban footsoldiers, the militia insists he is simply ill, but that has not stopped a fierce battle breaking out for the reins of power and command over his fighters.

'There is a possibility they (the Taliban) could split if the government and the military and the intelligence agencies exploit the situation. It is a window of opportunity,' defence analyst Talat Masood told AFP.



.............

But the consequences of not taking further action could be dire, analysts say, with either a new militant boss emerging and staging spectacular attacks in a show of strength, or a dangerous power void opening up in the tribal belt.

'In the beginning, each one of them - in order to consolidate his power - will probably commit ruthless acts,' said Masood.

And if no clear leader emerges from the fray and the government does not step in, other militant groups could take advantage of a lawless hideout straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan.

.......

Masood said the government and military must play a clever game to further rip at the fabric of the militant structure, with a sustained military presence in the tribal belt coupled with intensified intelligence efforts.

Writing in London's Evening Standard newspaper, veteran Pakistani journalist and author Ahmed Rashid said that the government now had an 'unprecedented opportunity to turn the tide against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda' Rashid advocated a similar assault in the tribal belt to the one in Swat earlier this year, and said there was strong US pressure for such action.

But columnist Mahmood cautioned against too much interference in the fiercely independent tribal areas.

'If they are killing each other, I don't think the government should have any problem with that. If they introduce an outside element it's quite possible they stop fighting each other and start fighting the government,' he said.


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