Pakistans Next Fight – Taliban Leader Baitullah Mehsud
June 17, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
No one has contributed to Pakistan’s slide into chaos over recent years more than Baitullah Mehsud. From his base in the wilds of South Waziristan, the leader of the Pakistan Taliban has overseen the killing of more than 1,200 civilians and several hundred soldiers through brutal means, including suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. He has been accused of masterminding the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in late December 2007.
In late March, Washington announced a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture, describing Mehsud as a “key al-Qaeda facilitator.” And over the past week alone, he claimed responsibility for five separate terrorist attacks, including the bombing of a luxury hotel in Peshawar and the killing of a vocal anti-Taliban cleric in Lahore. (See pictures of the hotel blast in Peshawar.)
Now Pakistan is taking the fight to Mehsud’s mountainous stronghold, ordering an expansion of its current offensive against Taliban fighters in the Swat valley.
