Friday, November 22, 2013 1:02:53 AM
Drone strike kills Haqqani network's No. 2, other Taliban commanders: officials
Students gather at a religious school in the Hangu district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after it was destroyed by a U.S. drone strike on Thursday.
Sb Shah / AFP - Getty Images
By Mushtaq Yusufzai, Producer, NBC News
November 21, 2013
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Five Taliban commanders -- including the Haqqani network's No. 2 -- were among nine people killed by a U.S. drone strike early Thursday, Pakistani security officials told NBC News.
Maulvi Ahmad Jan, a prominent adviser to Haqqani network leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, was among the dead after a religious school was targeted, according to a security official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
"Initially we thought that a suicide bomber had hit the madrasa but later we confirmed it was a drone attack,” the security official said.
As part of the wider Taliban movement, the Pakistan-based Haqqanis are among the United States' most feared enemies in Afghanistan. They have been blamed for many of the more than 2,000 U.S. military deaths in the country.
Ahmad Jan was a senior commander with the group who did not work out in the field but helped to plan insurgency operations against U.S and Afghan forces according to Dr. Anatol Lieven of King’s College London.
Witness Amjad Hussain said dozens of the militants arrived shortly after the attack, encircling the site.Local residents told NBC News the drone fired four rockets into the madrasa in Pakistan's Waziristan tribal region at 5:40 a.m. local time (7:40 p.m. Wednesday ET).
"The Taliban militants did not allow even local residents to go and see what had happened,” he said. “They blocked nearby streets leading towards the madrassa.”
Taliban commanders Maulana Ghazi Marjan, Maulana Hameedullah, Maulana Abdur Rahman and Maulana Abdullah were also killed, according to the official.
Four of the people killed by the strike, which occurred in the northwest Hangu district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, were not Pakistani nationals, the source added.
The Pakistani Taliban has been blamed for the deaths of at least 40,000 civilians and 5,000 troops during its decade-long insurgency against the country's government.
Thursday's attack was the first drone strike in the country since Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed on November 1 [ http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/01/21277748-leader-of-pakistan-taliban-killed-in-us-drone-strike-us-pakistani-officials-say?lite ].
The Haqqanis established themselves as key players in the region during the war against the Soviet Union after the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. They have been proscribed by the U.S. as a terrorist organisation.
The group's chief financier, Nasiruddin Haqqani, was shot dead in Islamabad on November 11 [ http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/11/21404211-senior-leader-of-taliban-linked-haqqani-network-shot-dead-outside-islamabad-pakistan ].
“The Haqqani network has been fighting for 35 years,” Dr. Lieven said. "Anyone who thinks these people can be deterred by death has not been paying attention. The idea that they might surrender is fatuous.
“This will undoubtedly incline the Haqqani network still further against any peace talks with the American and Afghan governments and will give them an even stronger motive to disrupt next year’s elections,” he added.
NBC News' Henry Austin and Reuters contributed to this report.
*
Related:
Commander linked to Malala shooting takes charge of Pakistani Taliban
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/07/21348335-commander-linked-to-malala-shooting-takes-charge-of-pakistani-taliban?lite
Militant 'Kennedys' pose biggest threat in Pakistan
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/05/21304827-drone-strike-aftermath-militant-kennedys-pose-biggest-threat-in-pakistan
*
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/21/21558669-drone-strike-kills-haqqani-networks-no-2-other-taliban-commanders-officials [with comments]
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U.S. drone kills senior militant in Pakistani seminary
Students gather at the site of a suspected U.S. drone strike on an Islamic seminary in Hangu district, bordering North Waziristan, November 21, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Syed Shah
Residents stand at the site of a drone attack on an Islamic seminary in Hangu district, bordering North Waziristan November 21, 2013.
Credit: REUTERS/Syed Shah
By Jibran Ahmed and Hamid Shalizi
PESHAWAR, Pakistan/KABUL Thu Nov 21, 2013 7:50am EST
(Reuters) - A suspected U.S. drone strike on an Islamic seminary in Pakistan killed a senior member of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network early on Thursday, Pakistani and Afghan sources said.
It was the first drone strike in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation since Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed on November 1 in an attack that sparked a fierce power struggle within the fragmented insurgency.
Maulvi Ahmad Jan, an adviser to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the feared head of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network, was in the madrassa when at least three rockets hit his room in the Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa just before sunrise.
"Yes it's true, we lost another valuable figure this morning," a senior Haqqani official told Reuters.
A Pakistani intelligence source said that Sirajuddin Haqqani himself was spotted at the same seminary just two days earlier.
The group is one of the main enemies of U.S.-led forces in neighboring Afghanistan, frequently launching attacks on foreign troops from mountainous hideouts in Pakistan's lawless North Waziristan region.
But it has been under considerable strain this month since its chief financier, Nasiruddin Haqqani, was shot dead in Islamabad on November 11. No one claimed responsibility for that shooting.
A source with Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security intelligence agency confirmed Jan's death. At least four other people also died in the attack but dozens of students sleeping in other rooms were unhurt, police and militant sources said.
Washington has long urged Islamabad to crack down on the group. Nasiruddin's father was once an ally of the United States during the rebellion in Afghanistan against the Soviets.
Pakistan publicly opposes U.S. drone strikes, saying they kill too many civilians and violate its sovereignty, although in private officials admit the government broadly supports them.
Thursday's missiles hit only two of the nine rooms in the seminary where Jan was staying with several other militants.
"Only the two rooms where Maulvi Ahmad Jan and other Afghan Taliban leaders were staying were hit by the drone. The remaining seven rooms remained intact," a local resident said.
Most drone strikes occur in the lawless North Waziristan region where Taliban insurgents are holed up, and are rare in densely populated places such as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The attack took place a day after Pakistan's foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz was quoted as saying the United States had promised not to conduct drone strikes while the government tries to engage the Taliban in peace talks.
The United States has not commented on Aziz's remarks.
(Reporting by Saud Mehsud, Jibran Ahmad and Haji Mujtaba in Pakistan and Hamid Shalizi in Afghanistan; Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Jeremy Laurence and Clarence Fernandez)
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/21/us-pakistan-drone-idUSBRE9AK06Q20131121 [with comments]
--
(linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=90131319 and following
Students gather at a religious school in the Hangu district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after it was destroyed by a U.S. drone strike on Thursday.
Sb Shah / AFP - Getty Images
By Mushtaq Yusufzai, Producer, NBC News
November 21, 2013
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Five Taliban commanders -- including the Haqqani network's No. 2 -- were among nine people killed by a U.S. drone strike early Thursday, Pakistani security officials told NBC News.
Maulvi Ahmad Jan, a prominent adviser to Haqqani network leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, was among the dead after a religious school was targeted, according to a security official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
"Initially we thought that a suicide bomber had hit the madrasa but later we confirmed it was a drone attack,” the security official said.
As part of the wider Taliban movement, the Pakistan-based Haqqanis are among the United States' most feared enemies in Afghanistan. They have been blamed for many of the more than 2,000 U.S. military deaths in the country.
Ahmad Jan was a senior commander with the group who did not work out in the field but helped to plan insurgency operations against U.S and Afghan forces according to Dr. Anatol Lieven of King’s College London.
Witness Amjad Hussain said dozens of the militants arrived shortly after the attack, encircling the site.Local residents told NBC News the drone fired four rockets into the madrasa in Pakistan's Waziristan tribal region at 5:40 a.m. local time (7:40 p.m. Wednesday ET).
"The Taliban militants did not allow even local residents to go and see what had happened,” he said. “They blocked nearby streets leading towards the madrassa.”
Taliban commanders Maulana Ghazi Marjan, Maulana Hameedullah, Maulana Abdur Rahman and Maulana Abdullah were also killed, according to the official.
Four of the people killed by the strike, which occurred in the northwest Hangu district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, were not Pakistani nationals, the source added.
The Pakistani Taliban has been blamed for the deaths of at least 40,000 civilians and 5,000 troops during its decade-long insurgency against the country's government.
Thursday's attack was the first drone strike in the country since Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed on November 1 [ http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/01/21277748-leader-of-pakistan-taliban-killed-in-us-drone-strike-us-pakistani-officials-say?lite ].
The Haqqanis established themselves as key players in the region during the war against the Soviet Union after the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. They have been proscribed by the U.S. as a terrorist organisation.
The group's chief financier, Nasiruddin Haqqani, was shot dead in Islamabad on November 11 [ http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/11/21404211-senior-leader-of-taliban-linked-haqqani-network-shot-dead-outside-islamabad-pakistan ].
“The Haqqani network has been fighting for 35 years,” Dr. Lieven said. "Anyone who thinks these people can be deterred by death has not been paying attention. The idea that they might surrender is fatuous.
“This will undoubtedly incline the Haqqani network still further against any peace talks with the American and Afghan governments and will give them an even stronger motive to disrupt next year’s elections,” he added.
NBC News' Henry Austin and Reuters contributed to this report.
*
Related:
Commander linked to Malala shooting takes charge of Pakistani Taliban
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/07/21348335-commander-linked-to-malala-shooting-takes-charge-of-pakistani-taliban?lite
Militant 'Kennedys' pose biggest threat in Pakistan
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/05/21304827-drone-strike-aftermath-militant-kennedys-pose-biggest-threat-in-pakistan
*
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/21/21558669-drone-strike-kills-haqqani-networks-no-2-other-taliban-commanders-officials [with comments]
--
U.S. drone kills senior militant in Pakistani seminary
Students gather at the site of a suspected U.S. drone strike on an Islamic seminary in Hangu district, bordering North Waziristan, November 21, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Syed Shah
Residents stand at the site of a drone attack on an Islamic seminary in Hangu district, bordering North Waziristan November 21, 2013.
Credit: REUTERS/Syed Shah
By Jibran Ahmed and Hamid Shalizi
PESHAWAR, Pakistan/KABUL Thu Nov 21, 2013 7:50am EST
(Reuters) - A suspected U.S. drone strike on an Islamic seminary in Pakistan killed a senior member of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network early on Thursday, Pakistani and Afghan sources said.
It was the first drone strike in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation since Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed on November 1 in an attack that sparked a fierce power struggle within the fragmented insurgency.
Maulvi Ahmad Jan, an adviser to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the feared head of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network, was in the madrassa when at least three rockets hit his room in the Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa just before sunrise.
"Yes it's true, we lost another valuable figure this morning," a senior Haqqani official told Reuters.
A Pakistani intelligence source said that Sirajuddin Haqqani himself was spotted at the same seminary just two days earlier.
The group is one of the main enemies of U.S.-led forces in neighboring Afghanistan, frequently launching attacks on foreign troops from mountainous hideouts in Pakistan's lawless North Waziristan region.
But it has been under considerable strain this month since its chief financier, Nasiruddin Haqqani, was shot dead in Islamabad on November 11. No one claimed responsibility for that shooting.
A source with Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security intelligence agency confirmed Jan's death. At least four other people also died in the attack but dozens of students sleeping in other rooms were unhurt, police and militant sources said.
Washington has long urged Islamabad to crack down on the group. Nasiruddin's father was once an ally of the United States during the rebellion in Afghanistan against the Soviets.
Pakistan publicly opposes U.S. drone strikes, saying they kill too many civilians and violate its sovereignty, although in private officials admit the government broadly supports them.
Thursday's missiles hit only two of the nine rooms in the seminary where Jan was staying with several other militants.
"Only the two rooms where Maulvi Ahmad Jan and other Afghan Taliban leaders were staying were hit by the drone. The remaining seven rooms remained intact," a local resident said.
Most drone strikes occur in the lawless North Waziristan region where Taliban insurgents are holed up, and are rare in densely populated places such as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The attack took place a day after Pakistan's foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz was quoted as saying the United States had promised not to conduct drone strikes while the government tries to engage the Taliban in peace talks.
The United States has not commented on Aziz's remarks.
(Reporting by Saud Mehsud, Jibran Ahmad and Haji Mujtaba in Pakistan and Hamid Shalizi in Afghanistan; Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Jeremy Laurence and Clarence Fernandez)
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/21/us-pakistan-drone-idUSBRE9AK06Q20131121 [with comments]
--
(linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=90131319 and following
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from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
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