The chief of the Pakistani Taliban was killed by a US drone strike yesterday, security sources and a senior Taliban commander said.
Hakimullah Mehsud was one of Pakistan’s most wanted men with a $5 million (€3.7 million) bounty on his head. He led an insurgency from a secret hideout in North Waziristan, the Taliban’s mountainous stronghold on the Afghan border.
“We confirm with great sorrow that our esteemed leader was martyred in a drone attack,” a senior Taliban commander told Reuters.
Killing
The killing is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Pakistani Taliban, a fragmented group alligned with their Afghan namesakes who have staged attacks against armed forces and civilians in their fight to topple Pakistan's government.
The death will likely scupper the immediate prospect of peace talks between the Taliban and the new government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who won a landslide election victory in May by promising to bring peace to Pakistan.
The US State Department had no comment on Mehsud’s death. His funeral will be held today in Miranshah, the Taliban commander said – an event likely to stir tensions further in the already volatile region.
The nuclear-armed nation of 180 million people has been plagued by militant violence, including the homegrown Taliban insurgency that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
The Taliban have already been weakened by a series of recent counter-attacks. In May, a US drone strike killed Mehsud’s second-in-command, and one of his most trusted lieutenants was captured in Afghanistan last month.
The government never clarified which factions of the Taliban they were willing to talk to or whether they would comply with the Taliban’s demands to release their prisoners and withdraw the army from Taliban strongholds in Pakistan’s tribal areas. – (Reuters)