Thursday, April 29, 2010

Pakistani Taliban Leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, Now Believed To Be Alive


I'm telling you...the Taliban leader in Pakistan, Hakimullah Mehsud, apparently has nine lives and with some credible evidence that he is indeed alive, after U.S. and Pakistani intelligence were sure he was killed in a predator drone attack, he's gotta be on life number 8 of those nine.

From the report at DAWN:


Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud is now believed to have survived a US missile strike earlier this year, but has lost clout within the militant network, a senior intelligence official said Thursday.

The revelation contradicts initial confidence among US and Pakistani intelligence officials that the militant leader had been killed in the mid-January missile attack. The Taliban consistently denied Mehsud was killed, but declined to offer evidence he lived, saying it would compromise his safety.

The latest independent investigations and reports from multiple sources in the field led Pakistani intelligence to conclude Mehsud had indeed survived, though with some slight injuries, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the topic's sensitivity.

''It was just a miracle that only one person escaped that attack, and he was Hakimullah Mehsud,'' he said. ''Miracles do happen.''

The article goes on to say that Mehsud has lost a good deal of his power to other leaders and that is why we aren't hearing from him but I have my own theory. If he is indeed alive and I do qualify that with an "if" - this guy is crawling around on his knees from his injuries and at the same time, good old Hakimullah Mehsud wants NOTHING to do with leading the Taliban anymore - he doesn't wanna be on camera, he doesn't want to have a speech recorded, he doesn't want to speak to a group of jihadis. This guy hears a hellfire in his dreams every single night. He's done. He's broken. And he'll die from his injuries...sooner or later.

Good riddance.



Hakimullah now believed alive: intelligence sources



ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud is now believed to have survived a US missile strike earlier this year, but has lost clout within the militant network, a senior intelligence official said Thursday.

The revelation contradicts initial confidence among US and Pakistani intelligence officials that the militant leader had been killed in the mid-January missile attack. The Taliban consistently denied Mehsud was killed, but declined to offer evidence he lived, saying it would compromise his safety.

The latest independent investigations and reports from multiple sources in the field led Pakistani intelligence to conclude Mehsud had indeed survived, though with some slight injuries, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the topic's sensitivity.

''It was just a miracle that only one person escaped that attack, and he was Hakimullah Mehsud,'' he said. ''Miracles do happen.''

Mehsud, however, had lost a good deal of power, and other Taliban commanders, such as Waliur Rehman, were overshadowing him.

Two other intelligence officials in the northwest told The Associated Press over the past several days that they had determined that Mehsud was alive. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media on the record.

The Taliban have been known in the past to deny a militant leader had died even if he had. They waited for 18 days to confirm that Mehsud's predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, had been killed in an August strike as they squabbled over who would be his heir.

This time, however, the militants never changed their stance that Hakimullah Mehsud had survived, though they would not let any reporters interview him. There was never a martyrdom video or official announcement of his death posted on militant websites, either, adding credence to the notion he was still alive.

The Pakistani Taliban have been under assault by the army in their main stronghold of South Waziristan since October. The group is behind numerous suicide and other attacks that have killed hundreds of Pakistanis over the past few years.

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