A lot of sources including media channels are reporting the death or Baitullah Mahsud in a drone attack yesterday. The Talibans (TTP) have announced that a new leader will take over and three names have been mentioned.
As now the Exterior Minister has confirmed his death so wat would be the possible reaction of TTP.
If the information is true it is likely to trigger activity from the TTP side in order to show strength of the new leader and revenge the old one or weather they wouldn’t be able to assimilate again under one flag to continue their envisaged motive. Wat do you think?

Dear,

Mesood was the backbone and moving spirit of the TTP and if he's gone, i dont really think they can come up with something forceful in the near future. it seems that Taliban have been taken to their heels as was the case with the Russian.. its a very sensitive issu so i guess we must not discuss it and of course we can share our views through newspapers etc but not thru this forum. comments are ok but let it not take the shape of someting offensive either for taliban or for the Pak army, be very careful dear...
CIA can follow your link also...



regards
cosmic libertine

__________________
I possess what even God would never possess despite all His Might and Creativity; a heart full of pain, love, sympathy and sins...

By Kamran Haider

ISLAMABAD, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Pakistan believes Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, was probably killed with his wife and bodyguards in a missile attack, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Friday.

An intelligence officer in South Waziristan told Reuters that Mehsud's funeral had already taken place, while Pakistani media cited their own security sources saying Mehsud was dead.

"He was killed with his wife and he was buried in Nargosey," the officer said, referring to a tiny settlement about 1 km (half a mile), from the site of the missile attack, believed carried out by a pilotless U.S. drone aircraft.

Malik said: "We suspect he was killed in the missile strike. We have some information, but we don't have material evidence."

Diplomats in Islamabad say Mehsud's death would mark a major coup for Pakistan, but many doubt it will help Western troops fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan as most of his focus has been on attacking Pakistan's government and security forces.

Retired brigadier Mehmood Shah, former chief of security in the tribal areas, said his Mehsud's death would be "quite a setback" for the Taliban.

"He is the one man who really organised the Taliban, kept unity among them and really forwarded the agenda with a lot of ... strategic thinking," said Shah.

Karin von Hippel, a security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, doubted whether the removal of one Taliban leader would have a lasting impact.

"What happens... is another comes in and takes their place pretty quickly," von Hippel said.

She reckoned there were more than 40 militia commanders among the Pakistani Taliban, and their relationship with the Afghan Taliban was sometimes hazy.

"I'm not sure we have a very good understanding of how all these these militia groups operate within Pakistan and with the networks across the border in Afghanistan," she said.

Mehsud declared himself leader of the Pakistan Taliban, grouping around 13 factions in the northwest, in late 2007 and his fighters have been behind a wave of suicide attacks inside Pakistan and on Western forces across the border in Afghanistan. [ID:nL622006]

Mehsud is accused of being behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, a charge he has denied. Conspiracy theories abound over who killed the former prime minister.

U.S. missile attacks on Mehsud territory in South Waziristan became more frequent after Pakistan ordered an offensive against him in June.

Intelligence officials and relatives had confirmed earlier that Mehsud's second wife had been killed in the missile strike that targeted her father's home in an outlying settlement close to Makeen village in the South Waziristan tribal region.

CONTENDERS FOR TALIBAN LEADERSHIP

Intelligence agents had also picked up signs that leaders of various Taliban factions planned to gather for a shura, or council meeting, somewhere in Waziristan later on Friday.

There is speculation they will choose a new leader and the names of militants Hakimullah Mehsud, Maulana Azmatullah and Wali-ur-Rehman have surfaced as possible successors.

Hakimullah Mehsud commands Taliban militants in three tribal regions of Orakzai, Khyber and Kurram and is said to be an important leader in the Taliban hierarchy.

Like Baitullah, Azmatullah also hails from the Shahbikhel, a sub-tribe of the Mehsuds. He is an important commander and a member of Taliban shura, or council of leaders.

Wali-ur-Rehman is another shura member, and is a former spokesman for Baitullah. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous in Washington and Alamgir Bitani in Peshawar; Writing by Simon Cameron-Moore; Editing by Nick Macfie)

__________________
When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk. ~ The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Pakistan, US: Taliban chief Mehsud may be dead

By ZARAR KHAN and ISHTIAQ MAHSUD
The Associated Press
Friday, August 7, 2009
Washington Post

ISLAMABAD -- U.S. and Pakistani authorities were investigating whether Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has led a violent campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations against Pakistan's government, was killed in a CIA missile strike.

A Pakistani official said Friday that reports of the militant leader's death were based on communication intercepts. A senior U.S. intelligence official said there were strong indications that Mehsud was among those killed in the attack, but he would not elaborate.

If confirmed, Mehsud's demise would be a major boost to Pakistani and U.S. efforts to eradicate the Taliban and al-Qaida.

Mehsud has al-Qaida connections and has been suspected in the killing of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Pakistan views him as its top internal threat and has been preparing an offensive against him. The U.S. sees him as a danger to the war effort in Afghanistan, largely because of the threat he is believed to pose to nuclear-armed Pakistan.

The missile strike hit the home of Mehsud's father-in-law in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal region early Wednesday. Intelligence officials say Mehsud's second wife was among at least two people killed, and Mehsud associates have claimed he was not among the dead.

Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas cautioned the reports of Mehsud's death were still unconfirmed. "We are receiving reports and probing," he said.

A senior Pakistani intelligence official said phone and other communications intercepts - he would not be more specific - have led authorities to suspect Mehsud was dead, but he also stressed there's no definitive evidence yet. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter publicly.

The U.S. government was also looking into the reports, according to a U.S. counterterrorism official. The official indicated the United States did not yet have physical evidence - remains - that would prove who died. But he said there are other ways of determining who was killed in the strike. He declined to describe them.

The two U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The U.S. and Pakistan will conduct DNA testing on the body to try to confirm it is Mehsud, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unnamed U.S. defense official. The tests will use DNA samples taken from Mehsud's family members, and results could take anywhere from days to weeks, the newspaper reported.

For years, the U.S. has considered Mehsud a lesser threat to its interests than some of the other Pakistani Taliban, their Afghan counterparts and al-Qaida, because most of his attacks were focused inside Pakistan, not against U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

That view appeared to change in recent months as Mehsud's power grew and concerns mounted that increasing violence in Pakistan could destabilize the U.S. ally and threaten the entire region.

In March, the State Department authorized a reward of up to $5 million for the militant chief. And increasingly, American missiles fired by unmanned drones have focused on Mehsud-related targets.

While Mehsud's death would be a big blow to the Taliban in Pakistan, he has deputies who could take his place. Whether a new leader could wreak as much havoc in Pakistan as Mehsud could depends largely on how much pressure the Pakistani military continues to put on the Taliban network, especially in South Waziristan.

Pakistan's record is spotty on that front. It has used both military action and truces to try to contain Mehsud over the years, but neither tactic seemed to work, despite billions in U.S. aid aimed at helping the Pakistanis tame the tribal areas.

Mehsud was not that prominent a militant when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to Mahmood Shah, a former security chief for the tribal regions. In fact, Mehsud has struggled against such rivals as Abdullah Mehsud, an Afghan war veteran who had spent time in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay.

A February 2005 peace deal with Mehsud appeared to give him room to consolidate and boost his troop strength tremendously, and within months dozens of pro-government tribal elders in the region were gunned down on his command.

In December 2007, Mehsud became the head of a new coalition called the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Pakistan's Taliban movement. Under Mehsud's guidance, the group has killed hundreds of Pakistanis in suicide and other attacks. He is believed to have as many as 20,000 fighters at his beck and call, among them a steady supply of suicide bombers.


Analysts say the reason for Mehsud's rise in the militant ranks is his alliances with al-Qaida and other violent extremist groups. U.S. intelligence has said al-Qaida has set up its operational headquarters in Mehsud's South Waziristan stronghold and the neighboring North Waziristan tribal area.

Mehsud has no record of attacking targets in the West, although he has threatened to attack Washington.

However, he is suspected of being behind a 10-man cell arrested in Barcelona in January 2008 for plotting suicide attacks in Spain. Pakistan's former government and the CIA have named him as the prime suspect behind the December 2007 killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He has denied a role.

He also has withstood threats from within Taliban ranks. A few weeks ago, Qari Zainuddin, the leader of a renegade Pakistani Taliban faction who had criticized Mehsud's tactics, was shot to death - allegedly on Mehsud's orders.

In June of this year, Pakistan said it would launch an offensive against Mehsud in South Waziristan.

In the weeks that have followed, the army has relied heavily on airstrikes to target areas under Mehsud's control, but it has never quite gone full-scale with the offensive. Meantime, the missile strikes continued, raising speculation that the U.S. might get him first.

Pakistan publicly opposes the missile strikes, saying they anger local tribes and make it harder for the army to operate. Still, many analysts suspect the two countries have a secret deal allowing the strikes.

---

Associated Press writers Nahal Toosi in Islamabad and Pamela Hess in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...81.html?sub=AR

__________________
No signature...

Updated at: 1306 PST, Saturday, August 08, 2009
PESHAWAR: The spokesman of Tahreek-e-Taliban and close relative of Baitullah Mehsud has denied the reports of killing of Baitullah Mehsud and claimed that he is alive.

Talking to an Arabic Television, Hakeemullah said Baitullah is alive and remained leading Tahreek, a videotape will be release soon as a proof of statement.

Hakeemullah said Baitullah gone into hiding as a part of strategy and he is not in contact with anyone after drone attack.

Replying to question about his presence in father-in-law house, Hakeemullah said living in in-laws house is against Peshtoon tradition and Baitullah was not present in his father-in-law house at the time of drone attack. He said meetings of Majlis Shura of Tahreek-e-Taliban are part of routine.

Is he still alive or its one of TTP strategy to mislead govt n law enforcement agencies?

__________________
"If we fight, we may not always win, but if we don't fight, we will surely lose."

Good riddance, killer Baitullah • Half of Taliban chief’s body was blown up • Drone attack was a joint operation • Militant shura embroiled in power struggle • Three contenders for TTP leadership


By Ismail Khan



PESHAWAR, Aug 7: Pakistan’s most dreaded Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US Predator strike, a senior security official confirmed.

“This is one hundred per cent. We have no doubt about his death,” the official said, requesting he not be named. “He is dead and buried.” The US is believed to have shared with the Pakistani authorities a video feed of the drone strike which, according to credible sources, has left no room for doubt that the most feared man in Pakistan was indeed dead.

One of the missiles, according to the sources, hit the roof of the upper-storey of the house, killing Baitullah and his younger wife for less than a year.

“He was clearly visible with his wife,” a senior security official, who saw the video footage, said. “And the missile hit the target as it was. His torso remained, while half of the body was blown up.” The strike also hit the vehicle that had brought Baitullah to the house of his father-inlaw Malik Ikramuddin who had been shuttling between his son-in-law and the government to negotiate a new peace deal.

The Taliban immediately shut down the three telephone lines in Zanghara and threw a five-kilometre security cordon around the area to block the leakage of news about the death of their leader.

The news of Baitullah’s possible death was in the air since Wednesday’s drone attack that according to initial reports had killed his wife and father-in-law. On Thursday night information that he too had been killed had started coming out of the Mehsud territory in bits and pieces, and throughout the day it remained the only topic of discussion within the country.

Initially, the government was quite reluctant to openly confirm the news. In his uncharacteristically cautious remarks Interior Minister Rehman Malik said he had information but no evidence to suggest that the TTP leader had in fact been killed. A few hours later, the first confirmation of sorts came from the foreign minister.

“Yes my intelligence sources have confirmed that he has been killed,” Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters in Islamabad. But he too qualified it by saying that it needed to be authenticated through other means.

A report suggested that Baitullah might have been buried in Nargosha area of Shabikhel -- a place his father had abandoned after developing a blood feud before moving to Bannu to serve as a prayer leader in a mosque in Landi Dhok.

It is understood that the strike to take out Baitullah was the outcome of a joint Pakistan-US intelligence operation that may, according to some officials, indicate a new level of trust between the often mutually suspicious intelligence agencies of the two countries.

The Taliban have withheld an announcement about the death of their leader, pending nomination of his successor, amid intelligence reports that a Mehsud militant shura met for the third day running at a secret location in Ludda in the volatile South Waziristan to nominate a new leader.

The meeting short-listed three candidates but stopped short of naming one, suggesting a power struggle among main contenders, a senior government official said.

Waliur Rehman, a deputy to Baitullah, is said to be leading the list with majority of shura members siding with him.

The forty-something Wali is Baitullah’s cousin and an Alizai Mehsud by tribe and hails from the village of Tangi in Serwekai.

The next on the list is the young, brash and aggressive Hakeemullah Mehsud, until very recently Baitullah’s commander for Kurram, Orakzai and Khyber tribal regions before he was recalled to South Waziristan to face off a possible military operation.

Hakeemullah, who once worked as Baitullah’s driver, was considered to be very close to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan leader and was widely considered to be his likely successor.

“Baitullah had groomed him well for the task,” a senior military official said. “He could be a natural choice, but his shooting-from-the-hip attitude may actually down his chances.” The third in the line of serious contenders is little known 50-year-old Azmatullah Mehsud, a Taliban commander in Barwand.

“The failure by the shura to quickly come up with a Baitullah successor indicates a power struggle within the key players,” a senior government official said.

“It’s not just the key players within the Mehsud clans wanting the mantle of leadership, the Ahmadzai Wazir militants in Wana and the Utmankhels’ leader in Miramshah would like to take on the mantle. They are lobbying and jockeying for power,” the official said.

“And I think the HaqqaniAl Qaeda network will play a pivotal role in the whole process,” the official said, referring to Siraj Haqqani, son of veteran Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani.

The young Haqqani, often referred to as Khalifa Siraj, is Mullah Omar’s pointman for North and South Waziristan. Baitullah had taken oath of allegiance to Khalifa Siraj, who had helped the 37-year-old gain leadership of the Taliban in South Waziristan at the expense of the one-legged former Guantanamo detainee, Abdullah Mehsud.

But government and security officials watching the scene unfolding in South Waziristan say Baitullah’s death is a major setback for the Tehrik-iTaliban Pakistan.

“This is a big setback for them. Baitullah was a phenomenon. It will take them a considerable time to regain their composure,” the security official said.

“The man has taken a lot of secrets with himself and for any successor will need a lot of time to rebuild and re-establish various linkages and connect the dots,” the official said.

“He was the Osama bin Laden of Pakistan,” remarked a senior analyst. “Consider the damage his death would cause to his movement.” The TTP has suffered major setbacks in Bajaur, Mohmand and Swat and the death of Baitullah will further dent its strength, the official said. “It may now longer be the TTP that we knew,” he remarked.

Still some security officials warned it was too early to write off the TTP. “You will have to wait to see who succeeds Baitullah before making any presumptions. A lot will depend on the character of the man who steps into Baitullah’s shoes. There will be call for blood and revenge from the rank and file of the Taliban and then he will also have to establish his credentials and leadership. So there may be some fireworks in the offing,” one official remarked.


************************************************** ********


Pakistan to be safer if Mehsud killed: US


WASHINGTON, Aug 7: The White House on Friday said that Pakistan would be safer if Taliban commander was killed.

The White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, however, said, “there seems to be a growing consensus among credible observers that he is indeed dead.” Mr Gibbs added that Mehsud killed scores of innocent men, women and children and was suspected of being behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan.

“If he is dead, without a doubt, the people of Pakistan will be safer as a result.” President Barack Obama was being regularly updated on the situation in Islamabad, officials said. Mehsud was probably dead but they were awaiting 100 per cent confirmation to verify reports of his death.

At the State Department, spokesman Robert Wood also said the United States and its allies were engaged in a “long-term struggle against violent extremism.” Asked at the regular briefing, how important Mehsud was considered in the fight against Al Qaeda and Taliban in the region, Mr Wood said: “Mehsud has been responsible for a number of atrocious terrorist attacks against people from around the world, frankly.

“And we will continue to work with other countries around the world to fight the scourge of terrorism.
washington, aug 7: the white house on friday said that pakistan would be safer if taliban commander was killed. the white house spokes- man robert gibbs, however, said, “there seems to be a growing consensus among credible observers that he is indeed dead.” mr gibbs added that mehsud killed scores of inno- cent men, women and chil- dren and was suspected of being behind the assassina- tion of benazir bhutto, for- mer prime minister of pakistan. “if he is dead, without a doubt, the people of pakistan will be safer as a result.” president barack obama was being regularly updated on the situation in islamabad, officials said. mehsud was probably dead but they were awaiting 100 per cent confirmation to ver- ify reports of his death. at the state department, spokesman robert wood al- so said the united states and its allies were engaged in a “long-term struggle against violent extremism.” asked at the regular brief- ing, how important mehsud was considered in the fight against al qaeda and taliban in the region, mr wood said: “mehsud has been responsible for a num- ber of atrocious terrorist at- tacks against people from around the world, frankly. “and we will continue to work with other countries around the world to fight the scourge of terrorism.

Regards

__________________
Always do what you are afraid to do
Saqib Riaz(TIPO KHAN)

__________________
When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk. ~ The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Still not confirmed about Mahsud's death.

__________________
Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.

TTP movement towards down fall.

Updated at: 2120 PST, Saturday, August 08, 2009
SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: Spokesman of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Hakimullah Mehsud and Wali-ur-Rehman have been killed in an armed clash during the Tehreek’s Shura meeting to appoint successor of Baitullah Mehsud, Geo TV reported.

At the meeting Hakimullah Mehsud was appointed as TTP Chief after the reported killing of Baitullah Mehsud.

__________________
"If we fight, we may not always win, but if we don't fight, we will surely lose."

Asslamulaikum,

Media is just promoting violence, nothing confirmed yet, we are not that much advanced, we have to wait for the statements of Taliban. If they approve it, then it is true, else false.

Regards.

__________________
I am he, whom I Love. And he whom I Love is I.