Uncertainty continues over the fate of the Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who was apparently the main target of a U.S. missile strike carried out by a drone aircraft in North Waziristan on Thursday.
The Taliban said hours after the attack that Hakimullah, who took charge of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan after the previous leader, Beithullah Mehsud, was killed in a drone strike in August, had escaped the missile strike in the Shaktoi area.
Four missiles hit a house-cum-madrassa in the village which is in a remote area on the border with South Waziristan. There were reports that at least a dozen people were killed, and some reports said that two foreign militants were among the dead.
A Taliban spokesman told Associated Press that Hakimullah had been in the house but had left the area when the drone attack took place and was “safe.”
On Friday, Associated Press said it had heard an audiotape of a message recorded by Hakimullah, adding that it might have been recorded before Thursday’s drone attack as it contained no reference to the incident.
Thursday’s missile strike was part of a stepped-up drone campaign against Taliban militants in the North Waziristan area some two weeks after a Jordanian Al-Qaeda suicide bomber killed seven CIA operatives in Khost in Afghanistan.
The truth about Hakimullah’s fate may not be known for many days. The Taliban took more than three weeks to acknowledge Beithullah’s death. Even if Hakimullah is alive, he may have gone underground for fear of being targeted again and may not reveal himself for some time.
But if he is dead, it would be a huge setback to the Pakistani Taliban, who have unleashed a new and unprecedented reign of terror in the months since he took over the leadership of the group.
They have targeted soldiers and civilians alike and used allies in other militant groups in the Punjab and elsewhere to carry out these attacks.
