Qaeda Commander Killed in Drone Attack in Pakistan

Qaeda Commander Killed in Drone Attack in Pakistan
By PIR ZUBAIR SHAH and MARK McDONALD
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: September 17, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/world/asia/18pstan.html?ref=global-home


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A top Al Qaeda commander has been killed in Pakistan by an American missile fired from a drone, Pakistani intelligence officials said Thursday.

The officials, who spoke anonymously under security protocols, said Ilyas Kashmiri was killed in a drone strike 10 days ago in the border area of North Waziristan.

Mr. Kashmiri was considered by some intelligence officials to be one of the 10 most wanted militants in Pakistan. Although they said his body had not been found, agents were dispatched to his home village, Bahawalpur, to verify his death.

U.S. missile strikes from drones have recently scored a number of hits against high-profile Taliban and Qaeda leaders, although reliable identification of the victims can be difficult. After such strikes, insurgents typically cordon off the targeted area and quickly remove any bodies to prevent security forces from taking them for DNA tests. Burials are often in unmarked graves.

The Pakistani officials also said another drone strike Monday had likely killed a Qaeda lieutenant from Uzbekistan named Nazimuddin. They were still seeking his body. And a missile believed to have been fired last week from an American drone killed five militants and wounded at least three, also in North Waziristan, a security official said. The missile struck a compound in the village of Machi Khel, and a local resident said the five dead fighters had been Uzbeks.

Also Thursday, a Pakistani military spokesman in the Swat Valley said Sher Muhammad Qasab, a wanted Taliban leader, had been arrested.

Mr. Qasab’s surname means “butcher,” and the spokesman said his notoriety derived from his practice of beheading security personnel and civilians opposed to the Taliban. Resident of Swat reached by telephone said that Mr. Qasab had been a butcher in civilian life, then took his new surname upon joining the Taliban.

A reward of $121,000 — known in Pakistan as “head money” — had been posted by the government for his capture.

Mr. Qasab’s arrest came during a military search operation in the Charbagh area of Swat, the troubled area northwest of the capital where the Pakistani military has largely put down an insurgency.

His capture follows the recent arrest of Muslim Khan, the Taliban spokesman in Swat, and a less senior Taliban commander, Mahmood Khan. All three men are known to be close associates of Maulvi Fazlullah, the Taliban chief in the region whose whereabouts remain unknown, military officials said.

Earlier this week, three of Mr. Qasab’s sons were killed in fighting with security forces, officials said. When he was captured, along with another son and more than a dozen other militants, Mr. Qasab was wounded, the military spokesman said.

One Swat resident said, “He used to slaughter animals and when he joined the Taliban he started doing the same to human beings.”

Pir Zubair Shah reported from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Mark McDonald from Hong Kong.