US drone strike kills TTP number two Waliur Rehman, six others

Published May 29, 2013
In this photo taken on October 4, 2009, new Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, left, is seen with Waliur Rehman during his meeting with media in South Waziristan’s Sararogha area. — Photo by AP/File
In this photo taken on October 4, 2009, new Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, left, is seen with Waliur Rehman during his meeting with media in South Waziristan’s Sararogha area. — Photo by AP/File

PESHAWAR: Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan’s deputy chief and commander of the Mehsud area, Waliur Rehman Mehsud, was killed in US drone strike on a compound in the Chashma area of Miramshah in the North Waziristan tribal region along with close aide Fahkr-i-Alam and five others, including Uzbek militants, official and intelligence sources told Dawn.com.

Intelligence as well as tribal sources confirmed that the TTP’s second top man had died along with six others in the drone strike.

Sources added that officials from the political administration had also communicated to Fata secretariat authorities regarding the death of Rehman and six others in the strike.

Besides Rehman, the other militants killed in the strike include Nasarullah, Shahabuddin, Adil, Nasiruddin, Fakhr-i-Alam and Saeedur Rehman who were present in the compound at the time of the strike, the sources said.

As the militants removed the bodies, communication intercepts among TTP militants confirmed to intelligence agencies that Rehman had been killed.

The TTP, however, is yet to confirm or deny the report of the death of their second top commander.

Official intelligence sources also confirmed that they had checked and verified the information on ground and had credible knowledge that seven people had died in the strike on the compound, including Rehman.

Political administration and military authorities in the tribal areas neither confirm nor deny such drone strikes.

Opinion

Editorial

Football elections
17 Nov, 2024

Football elections

PAKISTAN football enters the most crucial juncture of its ‘normalisation’ era next week, when an Extraordinary...
IMF’s concern
17 Nov, 2024

IMF’s concern

ON Friday, the IMF team wrapped up its weeklong unscheduled talks on the Fund’s ongoing $7bn programme with the...
‘Un-Islamic’ VPNs
Updated 17 Nov, 2024

‘Un-Islamic’ VPNs

If curbing pornography is really the country’s foremost concern while it stumbles from one crisis to the next, there must be better ways to do so.
Agriculture tax
Updated 16 Nov, 2024

Agriculture tax

Amendments made in Punjab's agri income tax law are crucial to make the system equitable.
Genocidal violence
16 Nov, 2024

Genocidal violence

A RECENTLY released UN report confirms what many around the world already know: that Israel has been using genocidal...
Breathless Punjab
16 Nov, 2024

Breathless Punjab

PUNJAB’s smog crisis has effectively spiralled out of control, with air quality readings shattering all past...