Missile Strike Said to Kill at Least 10 in Pakistan

Missile Strike Said to Kill at Least 10 in Pakistan
By PIR ZUBAIR SHAH and ALAN COWELL
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: April 1, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/world/asia/02pstan.html?ref=global-home


PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Missiles fired from a suspected American drone struck a militant training camp in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people in an attack apparently aimed at one of the area’s most important Taliban leaders, Hakimullah Mehsud, according to news reports, militants and an intelligence official.

Mr. Mehsud escaped unhurt, the intelligence official said, speaking in return for anonymity. The attack was the first of its kind in the Orakzai region, which lies southwest of Peshawar and close to the border with Afghanistan, residents said.

The region is strategically important because it borders other areas in Pakistan known for widespread Taliban activity.

Mr. Mehsud is a prominent lieutenant of Baitullah Mehsud, the head of the Pakistani Taliban, who claimed responsibility for an attack on police cadets in Lahore this week and threatened to strike at Washington.

In a telephone interview with Reuters on Tuesday, Baitullah Mehsud said he was proud to take responsibility for the Lahore attack and was planning more. “We wholeheartedly take responsibility for this attack and will carry out more such attacks in the future,” Mr. Mehsud said, according to Reuters.

“It’s revenge for the drone attacks on Pakistan,” he said. Without any further elaboration, he also claimed to be planning an attack on Washington.

Hakimullah Mehsud is in charge of Taliban operations in three of Pakistan’s lawless tribal regions in a belt of territory used by Al Qaeda and the Taliban as a rear base for attacks on NATO and American forces in Afghanistan. Additionally, his forces have been held responsible by Pakistani officials for attacking NATO supply depots in Peshawar used to resupply international forces in Afghanistan. His influence is such that he has imposed Sharia Islamic law in the Orakzai region, residents said.

Some accounts by Pakistani television stations said that 12 people had died in the missile attack Wednesday. News reports from the area said that Taliban militants had sealed off the target zone immediately after the attack.

Pakistani authorities frequently criticize the drone attacks as a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty, and the Pakistani public resents the strikes. But the United States say they form a central part of its tactics to oppose the Taliban in the border area.

Pir Zubair Shah reported from Peshawar, Pakistan, and Alan Cowell reported from Paris.