Pakistan said a senior Pakistani Taliban commander with al Qaeda links may have been killed when helicopter gunships attacked a building he was in, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said today.
"We had real-time intelligence that Faqir Mohammad was in a meeting with another commander, Qari Zia-ur-Rehman, in the basement of this hideout at the time of the attack," Mr Malik said.
"I would be surprised if he's alive. I hope we'll have confirmation in a day or so." Mr Malik said another Taliban commander, Fateh Mohammad, had also been killed in the raid.
The militant hideout in ethnic Pashtun tribal region near the Afghan border was attacked by Pakistani forces yesterday, killing at least 16 insurgents.
Faqir Mohammad, is rated as a senior commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the main alliance of Pakistan's home-grown militants based in the northwest., according to Pakistan security forces.
He is said to be the main Taliban commander in the Bajaur region and also on the Afghan border, which the army said last week had been cleared of militants after nearly two years of clashes.
Mr Mohammad is a veteran militant who is reported to have had close links with al Qaeda leaders including the militant group's number two, Ayman al-Zawahri. He is seen as a supporter of Taliban forces battling NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Security analysts said the deaths would be a major blow for the Pakistani Taliban.
"The death of Faqir Mohammad, Zia-ur-Rehman and Fateh Mohammad will have a major soothing effect for Bajaur and nearby areas," said Mehmood Shah, a former security chief for the tribal areas.
The United States has praised Pakistan's action against its indigenous militants but wants its ally to go after Afghan Taliban groups who cross the frontier to attack Western forces in Afghanistan.
Reuters