What is Pakistan confirming about the condition of the Taliban leaders health?”
Speculation that the leader of the Pakistan Taliban has died from wounds sustained last month in a U.S. missile strike intensified Tuesday with midranking Taliban fighters saying their chief was dead even though the militants’ spokesman issued a fresh denial. Pakistani military and intelligence officials also said they couldn’t confirm the death of Hakimullah Mehsud. But the militants’ focus appears to be shifting toward finding a new leader, a sign that increases the likelihood of Mr. Mehsud’s death. If he is dead, he would be the second Pakistan Taliban leader to be killed in about six months. U.S. and Pakistani officials have expressed hope that Mr. Mehsud’s death, if true, would be a major blow to the Pakistan Taliban, an offshoot of the Afghan movement that has launched numerous terror strikes in Pakistan’s major cities and battled Pakistani forces in the tribal areas that border Afghanistan. Tribal elders from areas where the Pakistan Taliban dominates also said they were unsure
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan – The Pakistani Taliban confirmed Tuesday that its leader, Hakimullah Mahsud, has died from injuries suffered in a U.S. drone missile strike last month, forcing the insurgency to find a new leader for the second time in six months. The death of Mahsud, engineer of a devastating series of suicide attacks and raids on markets, mosques and security installations across Pakistan late last year, gives the United States another major victory in its campaign of missile strikes against top Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders. A drone strike in August killed Mahsud’s predecessor, Baitullah Mahsud. Missiles fired by drones over Pakistan’s tribal areas along the Afghan border have also killed 15 senior Al Qaeda commanders since 2004. However, experts do not expect the loss of Hakimullah Mahsud, 28, to deal a fatal blow to the Taliban as it battles the government in the country’s northwest. After Baitullah Mahsud’s death last summer, the Taliban was able to regroup and
