South Waziristan Special:
A clansman of Abdullah, Baitullah grew in strength and stature after 9/11 and was said to command as many as 20,000 pro-Taliban militants. Baitullah had a $5 million US bounty on his head, and was killed in a CIA drone attack on his in-laws’ house in the Zangar area on August 5, 2009. His fighters were accused of playing a major role in advances Taliban made in Pakistan in recent years, especially in providing a sanctuary for fighters to operate in Afghanistan. After a failed peace accord in February 2005, Baitullah Mehsud’s militants waged a guerrilla war that nearly pushed the army out of South Waziristan. Afterwards he virtually ruled the area as his personal fiefdom. The government has also accused him of ordering former PM Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in December 2007. Mehsud denied he had anything to do with the attack. Mehsud himself was reported to be part of a wider Waziristan-based alliance with groups led by Maulvi Nazeer in Wana and Hafiz Gul Bahadur in Miranshah. Intelligence reports claim that Mehsud’s force has a large number of foreigners.
Home |
National
| 
RSS
| Archives
| Company Financials
| Contact Us
| Tuesday, February 09, 2010
