Thursday, April 29, 2010

Pakistan Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud is alive, says spy agency


Exclusive: Setback for CIA after Pakistan intelligence official admits drone attack failed to kill the Pakistan Taliban commander

Declan Walsh in Islamabad
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 28 April 2010

"The Taliban leader in Pakistan, Hakimullah Mehsud, survived an American drone strike in January and is alive and well, a senior official with Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency told the Guardian today.

Mehsud was reported to have died in a CIA drone strike in South Waziristan in January but, although Pakistan's interior minister claimed he had been killed, the death was never confirmed by either US or Pakistani intelligence.

Today the senior intelligence official said he had seen video footage of the missile attack on Mehsud but other intelligence had since confirmed the insurgent leader survived. He declined to elaborate further. "He is alive," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He had some wounds but he is basically OK."....."

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