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10 militants killed in drone attack

ISLAMABAD: The Predator returned to South Waziristan on Tuesday reportedly killing at least 10 suspected Taliban militants a week after missiles fired from the unmanned drone aircraft are believed to have taken out their leader Beithullah Mehsud.

This time, the missiles reportedly struck a militant training camp some 7 km from Ladda, where Mehsud, leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is said to have been killed.

Western news agencies reported that at least 10 suspected militants were killed in the latest strike in Kanniguram, while Dawn reported that it killed 14 people.

The area is a stronghold of Mehsud, about whose reported death doubts persist, with various Taliban commanders calling media outlets to claim their leader is alive, and that a reported bloody succession battle was only rumour spread by the government to demoralise the Taliban ranks.

If that is true, the strategy has had some effect, as seen from clashes between rival Taliban factions since the first reports of Mehsud’s death.

On Tuesday, at least 18 militants were reported killed in the Orakzai tribal agency in fighting between two factions of Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud’s group.

Earlier, in Tank, clashes between pro- and anti-Beithullah groups left more than a dozen dead.

Hakimullah was tipped to succeed Beithullah as the leader of the TTP, but reports on Saturday said he was killed in a gunbattle with a rival for the post. Since then, several western news agencies have reported that Hakimullah called them to deny the reports of his death, also denying that Beithullah was dead.

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