Intercepted militant radio communications indicate the leader of the
Pakistani Taliban may have been killed in a recent U.S. drone strike,
Pakistani intelligence officials said Sunday. A Taliban official denied
that.
The report coincided with sectarian violence — a bomb blast
in eastern Pakistan that killed 14 people in a Shiite religious
procession.
The claim that the Pakistani Taliban chief was killed
came from officials who said they intercepted a number of Taliban radio
conversations. In about a half a dozen intercepts, the militants
discussed whether their chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed on Jan. 12
in the North Waziristan tribal area. Some militants confirmed Mehsud was
dead, and one criticized others for talking about the issue over the
radio.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Pakistani
Taliban spokesman Asimullah Mehsud denied the group's leader was killed
and said he was not in the area where the drone strike occurred.
In
early 2010, both Pakistani and American officials said they believed a
missile strike had killed Hakimullah Mehsud along the border of North
and South Waziristan. They were proved wrong when videos appeared
showing him still alive.
The Pakistani Taliban is linked to
attacks against U.S. targets. They trained the Pakistani-American who
tried to detonate a car bomb in New York City's Times Square in 2010 and
is tied to a suicide bombing that killed seven CIA agents at an Afghan
base in 2009.
There was no claim of responsibility for Sunday's
bombing that killed 14 people during a Shiite observance in Punjab
province in the east — the latest of a series of sectarian attacks in
volatile Pakistan.
Hundreds of Pakistani Shiites gathered in the
town of Khanpur in Punjab province for a traditional procession to mark
the end of 40 days of mourning following the anniversary of the death of
Imam Hussein, a revered seventh-century figure.
The explosion
went off as the mourners left a mosque, said District Police Chief
Sohail Chatta. The bomb appeared to have been planted ahead of time in
the path of the procession, he said.
The Pakistani Taliban and
other Sunni extremist groups have in the past claimed responsibility for
the bombings of Shiite religious sites and ceremonies. Many Sunni
extremists in Pakistan regard Shiites as heretics.
The Taliban and
other groups have carried out hundreds of bombings over the last five
years that have killed thousands of Pakistani troops and civilians as
part of a campaign to install a hard-line Islamist government.
The
attacks are so common that the country's interior minister in December
actually thanked the Taliban for acting on what he said was a "request"
not to stage attacks during the Shiite rituals of Ashoura that month.
Punjab
law minister Rana Sanaullah said police investigators were still
examining the area of Sunday's bombing for clues. Security was provided
for the procession, but it was breached, Sanaullah said.
The
continuing strikes by presumed religious extremists come during a
political crisis that pits the Pakistani civilian government against the
military, sparking rumors of an impending coup.
Last week the
military warned the government of possible "grievous consequences"
ahead, and President Asif Ali Zardari took a one-day trip to Dubai that
renewed speculation that he might flee the country.
Analysts say the military may be looking for the Supreme Court to push out Zardari rather than risk an outright takeover. AP
