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Aide: Pakistani Taliban leader Mehsud is dead
Pakistani and US intelligence officials said the CIA was behind the strike. All spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. “I confirm that Baitullah Mehsud and his wife died in the American missile attack in South Waziristan,” Taliban commander Kafayat Ullah told The Associated Press by telephone. He would not give any further details.
Mehsud's demise would be a major boost to Pakistani and US efforts to eradicate the Taliban and al-Qaeda. However, Mehsud has deputies who could take his place. Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Taliban commanders were already believed to be meeting in the lawless tribal areas Friday to choose a replacement.
Three Pakistani intelligence officials said the likeliest successor was Mehsud's deputy, Hakim Ullah, a commander known for recruiting and training suicide bombers. Two other prominent possibilities, the officials said, were Azmat Ullah and Waliur Rehman, also close associates of Mehsud.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Whether a new leader could wreak as much havoc as Mehsud depends largely on how much pressure the Pakistani military continues to put on the network, especially in the lawless tribal area of South Waziristan.
Mehsud has al-Qaeda connections and has been suspected in the killing of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Pakistan views him as its top internal threat and has been preparing an offensive against him. For years, the US considered Mehsud a lesser threat to its interests than some of the other Pakistani Taliban, their Afghan counterparts and al-Qaeda, because most of his attacks were focused inside Pakistan, not against US and NATO troops in Afghanistan.
That view appeared to change in recent months as Mehsud's power grew and concerns mounted that increasing violence in Pakistan could destabilize the US ally and threaten the entire region. The Pakistani intelligence officials said Mehsud's body was buried in the village of Nardusai in South Waziristan, near the site of the missile strike.
One official said he had seen a classified intelligence report stating Mehsud was dead and buried, but that agents had not seen the body since the area is under Taliban control. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Islamabad he could confirm the death of Mehsud's wife but not of the Taliban leader himself, although information pointed in that direction.
“Yes, (a) lot of information is pouring in from that area that he's dead, but I'm unable to confirm unless I have solid evidence,” he said. Another senior Pakistani intelligence official said phone and other communications intercepts -- he would not be more specific -- had led authorities to suspect Mehsud was dead, but he also stressed there was no definitive evidence yet.
An American counterterrorism official said the US government was also looking into the reports. The official indicated the United States did not yet have physical evidence -- remains -- that would prove who died.
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