Pakistan Taliban say Baitullah Mehsud is dead

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Baitullah Mehsud, amīr (leader) of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is dead, said two Taliban leaders in a phone call to the BBC. Mehsud was reportedly killed on August 5, 2009, during a U.S. drone attack on South Waziristan; however, Hakimullah Mehsud, who was recently chosen as Baitullah's successor, and Wali-ur-Rehman told the BBC that Mehsud had died on Sunday, August 23, 2009 of injuries sustained on August 5.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik delayed giving official confirmation and asked for patience and an announcement by ISPR or other agencies. Major General Athar Abbas, ISPR spokesman, and Robert Gibbs of the White House had said that his death could not be confirmed although U.S. National Security Adviser James L. Jones had claimed that there was "pretty conclusive" evidence that proved Baitullah Mehsud had been killed and that he was 90% sure of it.

Mehsud formed the TTP from an alliance of about five pro-Taliban groups in December 2007, and commanded up to 5,000 fighters. Pakistan blamed him for numerous attacks including the assassination in 2007 of Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan and wife of President Asif Ali Zardari, according to Bloomberg News. The U.S. offered a US$5 million bounty for his capture. According to the BBC, Pakistan had been unable to provide tangible evidence of his death because of the "remote and hostile terrain" of South Waziristan.

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Sources

"Taliban confirm commander's death" — BBC News Online, August 25, 2009
Salman Masood. "Taliban Confirm Death of Leader" — The New York Times, August 25, 2009
"Pakistan Taliban say Mehsud is dead" — Al Jazeera, August 25, 2009
Ed Johnson. "Taliban Kill Father-in-Law of Slain Chief Mehsud, Pakistan Says" — Bloomberg L.P., August 24, 2009
Paul Tighe and Ian Katz. "Pakistan Challenges Taliban to Show Leader Mehsud Still Alive" — Bloomberg L.P., August 10, 2009
Jason Subler, Patrick Graham and Kamran Haider. "UPDATE 3-US says evidence Taliban chief dead "pretty conclusive"" — Thompson Reuters, August 9, 2009
"White House declines to confirm death of Taliban chief in Pakistan" — Xinhua News Agency, August 8, 2009
Ram D. "Security Officials Confirmed Baitullah Mehsud Killed" — India News, August 7, 2009
"ISPR denies reports of Mehsud killing" — MalaysiaSun.com, August 7, 2009
Salman Masood. "Blast Kills Surgeon General of Pakistani Army" — The New York Times, February 26, 2008

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