Taliban chief's wife killed by missile

[David]

AP


DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – A suspected U.S. missile strike killed a wife of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud at his father-in-law's house Wednesday, Pakistani intelligence and military officials said.

Mehsud associates acknowledged a woman was killed but would not confirm her identity. They said Mehsud was not at the South Waziristan home during the attack, which authorities said also killed a second person.

The missile strike could indicate that American intelligence aimed at tracking down the notorious Taliban leader is getting sharper, and that those hunting him are getting closer.

South Waziristan is part of the northwest tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan where Taliban and al-Qaida leaders — including possibly Osama bin Laden — are believed to be hiding. Dozens of American missile strikes have landed in the tribal regions over the past year, and lately they have focused on targets linked to Mehsud.

Two intelligence officials and one army official, who all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the missile strike had destroyed the home of Mehsud's father-in-law, Akramud Din, and that two people had been killed, including the second of Mehsud's two wives. Under Islam, men are allowed to have up to four wives.

One intelligence official said agents were trying to get details about the second person who died. A Mehsud associate who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue said Mehsud was not in the house hit by the strike in the Jangara area.

The information is nearly impossible to confirm independently. South Waziristan is remote, rugged, dangerous and largely off-limits to journalists. In addition, militants tend to quickly surround sites hit by missile strikes and spirit away the bodies, making definitive physical proof of deaths tough to get.

The U.S. Embassy had no comment Wednesday. Washington generally does not acknowledge the missile strikes, which are fired from unmanned drones. In the past, however, American officials have said the missiles have killed several important al-Qaida operatives.

The U.S. has a $5 million bounty on Mehsud's head, considering him a threat to its interests in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Taliban commander has been accused in the past of involvement in the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a charge he has denied. He is also suspected in dozens of suicide attacks in Pakistan.

If confirmed, the death of Mehsud's wife is a sign authorities are gaining on Mehsud, a leading analyst said.

"I think they seem to have good intelligence; there is no doubt about it," retired Pakistani army Lt. Gen. Talat Masood said. "They are closing in, and they are keeping the pressure on these people."

Pakistan's military has carried out several air strikes targeting Mehsud, and the army has said it is preparing for a major offensive against Mehsud and his network in the tribal region. But the offensive has not gone full-scale, despite being announced weeks ago.

Masood said it was likely the military wanted to concentrate on clearing up militants still active in and around the Swat Valley elsewhere in the northwest, where it is waging a separate three-month offensive.

"At the moment, I don't think it has any desire or intention of launching a full-fledged attack in South Waziristan. I feel they are wanting to contain them instead of having a full-fledged attack," Masood said.

The missile strikes have continued even as Pakistan formally protests them, saying they anger local residents. Masood noted that the death of a woman in the latest strike could upset some Pakistanis.

"People in Pakistan would not like wives to be targeted ... the social aspect is there," he said. "This is a very dangerous game for a fight that involves so many civilians, innocent civilians."

Many analysts suspect the two countries have a secret deal allowing the strikes, but that the Pakistani government condemns them to save face with the public. Islamabad has pushed Washington to provide it with access to the latest technology so that Pakistan's own military could carry out such attacks.

[SuperScout]

Collateral damage. If a Muslim male gets 72 virgins, does a Muslim woman get 72 Chippendale studs?

[revwardoc]

They bitch about just one woman being killed? How about this?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32310779...d_central_asia

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A roadside bomb struck a tractor carrying people to a wedding in southern Afghanistan, killing 21 civilians in one of the deadliest strikes in weeks, officials said Thursday.

The attack was part of a mounting wave of violence two weeks before Afghans go to the polls for a presidential election.

General Sher Mohammad Zazai, commander of an Afghan military unit in Helmand province, said the explosion happened Wednesday in Garmsir, a district of the province where U.S. Marines launched the biggest operation of the war last month against Taliban militants.

"It's the work of the enemy of the nation, it's the work of the enemy of peace and the work of the Taliban," Zazai said.

Assadullah Sherzad, police chief of Helmand province, said by telephone that the dead included women and children, heading to a wedding in a trailer pulled by a tractor.

Defense Ministry spokesman Zaher Azimi confirmed the incident and the death toll, as did the Interior Ministry in a statement, which said five other civilians were wounded.

A separate roadside bomb exploded next to a police vehicle on Thursday in another part of Helmand province, the Nad Ali district, killing five policemen and wounding three others, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Militants or farmers?
And a local police chief said a Western airstrike late Wednesday killed five farmers loading cucumbers into a taxi in the rural Zhari district to the city of Kandahar.

However, a U.S. military spokeswoman said the five were militants placing explosives in a van.

Last month U.S. and British forces launched simultaneous major operations in Helmand province, and they are still fighting to secure areas previously held by Taliban insurgents.

Violence across Afghanistan this year has reached its worst levels since U.S.-led Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001. More than 1,000 civilians were killed between January and June this year, up from 818 in the same period last year, the United Nations said last month.

The operations are meant to expand the Afghan government's control of the volatile south ahead of an Aug. 20 presidential election, part of Washington's effort to defeat militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the election and have called on Afghans to boycott the ballot.

In another incident, a U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in the western province of Farah while on patrol on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.

At least 71 international troops were killed in July, the worst monthly toll for foreign forces since the start of the war.