Pakistan Taliban say leader is alive, will provide proof in coming days

Pakistani Taliban promise proof leader is alive

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Taliban militants in Pakistan promised on Monday to soon prove their leader was still alive, dismissing as government propaganda reports he may have died from injuries sustained in a U.S. missile attack close to Afghanistan.

Pakistani fighter jets and helicopters attacked targets elsewhere in the northwestern border region, part of battles that killed 22 insurgents and three soldiers, said government official Abdul Malik. The renewed fighting in the Bajur region over recent days shows the tenacity of militants in an area that the army said last year they had cleared of insurgents.

State television reported Sunday that Pakistan Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud had died of injuries sustained in a drone strike earlier this month in the lawless frontier zone. The report was apparently based on witnesses who said they attended his funeral last week.

Mehsud’s death would be a major victory against an al-Qaida ally already under pressure from U.S. and Pakistani attacks, but it would be unlikely to deal a killer blow to the organization. There are at least two commanders believed waiting the wings to replace him.

It would also be another success for Washington’s covert program of missile strikes in the border area. Mehsud’s predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed a similar attack in August last year, one of several senior militants believed to have fell victim to the missiles since the program began in earnest 18 months ago.

But a close aide to Hakimullah Mehsud called the report of his death “government propaganda” and said he was “doing well.”

“We will try in a day or two to give you proof that he is alive,” the commander told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government retribution.

The Pakistani Taliban issued similar denials after former leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed, only admitting his death after the group chose Hakimullah Mehsud as his successor three weeks later.

Army spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas said state agencies were still investigating the reports, saying they were apparently linked to a missile strike on Jan. 17 in South Waziristan that was earlier reported to have killed 12 people.

Hakimullah Mehsud has been reported dead at least twice before, once in what government officials called a power struggle following the death of Baitullah.

Getting accurate information from the tribal area where Mehsud is reported to have died is difficult.

The Pakistan army has a network of informants there, but many places are under effective militant control. There are few independent journalists working there.

The army launched a major operation in the Pakistani Taliban’s main stronghold of South Waziristan in mid-October.

Pakistan’s army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said the offensive had cleared the area of militants, but he did not refer to the reports of Mehsud’s death.

He also said Pakistan had offered to help train the Afghan army, an apparent gesture of friendship in a relationship marked by accusations of meddling in each others affairs. Afghan presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said there had been no formal offer, and the government there would react “in due time.”

Kayani also said progress in Afghanistan would not be quick, saying efforts to reconcile Taliban militants there might not be successful unless the West could change the perception it was losing the war.

“The Afghans are not going to come and join (any reconciliation program),” he told foreign journalists in a rare briefing. “They will wait and see who is winning and losing.”

The U.S. is eager for Islamabad to pursue militants on Pakistani soil, where Washington says they plot assaults on American troops in Afghanistan. Kayani defended his country’s efforts so far, noting that his army had lost more than 2,000 soldiers in the border region.

Taliban commanders Waliur Rehman and Qari Hussein are seen as the two most likely successors to replace Mehsud, if he was killed. Hussein is known as the group’s chief trainer of suicide bombers. Rehman was the commander in South Waziristan. In remarks to the media, they have shown themselves to be just as committed to war against the Pakistani state and the United States as Mehsud.

While considered distinct organizations, the Pakistani Taliban are closely allied with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, also believed to be hiding out in Pakistan’s northwest, is a supporter.

Hakimullah’s importance for the United States was highlighted last month when he appeared in a video beside the Jordanian man who killed seven CIA employees in a suicide bombing at a remote base in Afghanistan. The bomber said he carried out the attack in retribution for the death of Baitullah Mehsud.

Brummitt reported from Islamabad.