I didn’t post on this yesterday because I’ve been tricked too many times on terrorist leaders’ deaths. A lot more info is coming out now and picking up steam. Even the Taliban second in command is saying it’s true. There’s no body yet, but there may not be much left of him…
This is HUGE HUGE HUGE. A HUGE victory for Infidels…
NY Times — Baitullah Mehsud, the main leader of Pakistan’s fearsome Taliban militia, was killed Wednesday in a C.I.A. missile strike, two Taliban fighters said Friday, but a spokesman for Pakistan’s military, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, said he could not confirm reports of Mr. Mehsud’s death.
One senior Mehsud aide, reached by telephone in the Orakzai Agency in northwestern Pakistan, and a local fighter from Mr. Mehsud’s area both said that Mr. Mehsud had been receiving kidney treatment from a relative in his father-in-law’s house in a remote village in South Waziristan when missiles fired from a remotely piloted drone struck.
The attack took place at 1 a.m. Wednesday, fighters said, while Mr. Mehsud, who was on a drip infusion, was being tended by his wife. Pakistani security officials, who had viewed American footage of the attack, said they were together in an upstairs bedroom.
“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.”
The two Taliban fighters who said Mr. Mehsud was dead said a meeting was under way to choose a successor from among his top deputies.
via Hotair:
Two Taliban aides tell the NYT that Mehsud has indeed gone to meet Allah, blown to pieces by a drone missile while receiving treatment for diabetes at his father-in-law’s house. I e-mailed Roggio to see if he was sticking by his sources yesterday who claimed Mehsud survived the attack and he said nope — not after top lieutenant Faqir Muhammad went on record to say he’s dead.
Pakistan’s Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud – who had a £3m bounty on his head – is dead, his second-in-command has told Sky News. Molvi Faqir Muhammad confirmed the death after widespread speculation over the militant group chief’s demise in a US missile strike on Wednesday… An intelligence officer in South Waziristan said earlier that a funeral for Mehsud had already taken place.
“Baitullah is no more with us,” another Taliban jihadi tells WaPo; see Roggio’s new post for background on the likely successors, all of whom are just as nasty — but perhaps not as smart — as Mehsud. This is easily the biggest score since Bush knocked out AQ number three Abu Laith al-Libi last year, and maybe even bigger than that. Your must-read of the day is this excellent Newsweek piece explaining what a terrible blow losing Mehsud is to Al Qaeda.
Related posts:
- Report: Pakistani Taliban have appointed a new leader
- Taliban badly divided after Mehsud’s death
- 25 Taliban killed in Predator Strike
- Nuristan: Huge Afghan battle that killed 8 American leaves over 100 Taliban dead
- Pakistan: Taliban faction commander killed by his own guards
- BBC Reports that Taliban leader Mullah Omar has been killed
- Taliban leader killed in Pakistan? 14 dead in missile strike
- Al-Qaeda NO. 2 memorializes dead Taliban jihadi
- Pakistani Taliban commander reported dead
- Pakistan: Pro-Taliban chief ready to fight Americans
