http://www.tehrantimes.com/NCms/2007.asp?code=213513
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Mystery deepens over fate of Pakistan Taliban leader
PESHAWAR (AFP) - Mystery deepened over the fate of Pakistan Taliban leader
Hakimullah Mehsud on Monday following fresh reports of his death as his
militant faction promised he would appear alive in a video.
U.S. missile attacks have repeatedly targeted Mehsud, the head of Pakistan's
powerful Taliban group and involved in a December suicide attack on the CIA in
Afghanistan -- the deadliest attack on the U.S. spy agency in 26 years.
Speculation about his death surfaced after a January 14 U.S. drone strike in
the Shaktoi area of North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, but Mehsud
purportedly released two audio statements denying his demise.
On January 17, a day after Mehsud's last statement, a U.S. drone carried out
another attack that officials said also targeted the militant leader.
Killing Mehsud would be a coup for the United States, which stepped up its
drone war in Pakistan after the warlord claimed the December 30 bombing that
killed five CIA officers and two contractors in southeastern Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials said they had no confirmation of differing reports about
his possible demise -- published by The New York Times and briefly on
Pakistan's state television Sunday.
"So far there is no confirmation of his death. There is no credible report from
that area (that Mehsud was killed or wounded)," chief military spokesman Major
General Athar Abbas told reporters.
"This (reports of death or injury) is not from our sources. This is from
outside sources... All the agencies are out to get the information," he added.
Asked about U.S. drone attacks on January 14 and 17, Abbas confirmed reports
were being circulated that Mehsud was wounded in the second attack.
Speaking to AFP from an undisclosed location, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
spokesman Azam Tariq denied "baseless and negative propaganda".
"Soon we will release his video showing he is alive," the spokesman said.
Earlier, a senior Pakistani intelligence official told AFP there were
"confusing" reports that Mehsud was wounded when a U.S. missile hit his vehicle
on January 14 in the Shaktoi area.
He was reportedly taken more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) to Orakzai, in the
far north of Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, for medical help but the official
told AFP that the doctor in question had denied he treated Mehsud.
"It could be Mehsud's own bluffing game. The report may have been circulated to
divert U.S. attention because he was being repeatedly chased and targeted by
the U.S. spy planes," he said.
Pakistan, which has been fighting off accusations from the United States about
not doing enough to eradicate the Taliban and Al-Qaeda menace on its soil, has
placed a 50-million-rupee (600,000-dollar) price on Mehsud's head.
Prominent tribal affairs expert Rahimullah Yusufzai said the fact that state
television station PTV said Mehsud had been buried in Orakzai gave the reports
more importance but emphasized the region was an intelligence black hole.
"Orakzai is a tribal area. There is no government, no army... They (the
military) have no means to verify. Local people are scared of the Taliban. They
don't speak. The army will only wait for some intercepts," he told AFP.
The New York Times said Pakistani and U.S. officials were increasingly
convinced Mehsud died from wounds suffered on January 14, but had no proof.
A U.S. administration official in Washington said intelligence reports reached
about 90 percent certainty that Mehsud had died.
The paper said he was believed to have been buried in Pakistan's tribal belt,
the vast semi-autonomous area that U.S. officials call Al-Qaeda's headquarters
and where Pakistan has mounted an offensive against the Taliban.
Mehsud assumed leadership of the TTP -- blamed for the deaths of thousands of
people in attacks across Pakistan -- after his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud,
was killed in a U.S. drone strike last August.
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