Another top Pakistan Taliban leader killed in airstrike?
(Read article summary)Pakistani officials said Saturday that Maulvi Faqir Mohamed, a top Pakistan Taliban leader, was likely killed in an airstrike Friday in northwestern Pakistan along with other Taliban leaders.
A top Pakistan Taliban leader was likely killed in an airstrike Friday in northwestern Pakistan along with other Taliban leaders, Pakistani officials said Saturday, continuing Pakistan’s recent steady onslaught against the leadership of the militant group.
Scores of Pakistani Taliban leaders have been killed in airstrikes over recent months, including two leaders of the entire organization, and top Afghan leaders were recently arrested.The repeated success in targeting Taliban leaders may be making it more difficult for the group to direct movements from the top as it struggles to replace its leadership.
Maulvi Faqir Mohamed was likely killed in an airstrike Friday that hit a large group of militants meeting in northwestern Pakistan, reports the Associated Press. As many as two dozen militants may have been at the gathering, including Afghan Taliban commander Qari Ziaur Rehman. Officials say both leaders are probably dead, though their bodies have not been identified. Pakistani’s interior minister did confirm that Fateh Mohammed, Taliban commander in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, was killed by the airstrike, which came after a “real-time” intelligence tip that the militants were conducting a meeting.
