Hakimullah dodges US missiles

PESHAWAR Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Chief Hakimullah Mehsud narrowly escaped an attempt on life when a US drone fired four missiles at a house and a religious seminary in Shakoti area of North Waziristan Agency on Thursday, however at least 12 militants were killed in the attack.
Sources informed that US drone targeted a house that was adjacent to a seminary in Shakoti area where Taliban were present.
Talking to media persons on telephone, Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq confirmed the attack and said that 10 Taliban fighters were killed. However he said that Taliban Chief Hakim-ullah Mehsud had left the site before the attack. He did not tell when exactly Mehsud left the area, however he said he was safe and sound.
So far 12 dead bodies of Taliban have been retrieved from the debris while it is feared that death toll may rise. This was the 7th such attack in North Wazir-istan Agency in the year 2010 and 35 persons have been killed in these attacks.
Agencies add: A US drone missile strike Thursday targeted Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, officials said, but the militia denied reports that he was among 12 killed in the lawless northwest.
Hakimullah Mehsud was present at the same place in Shaktoi where the drone attack took place, the spokesman Azam Tariq told AFP by telephone.
But he had left the area already when the drone attack took place. He is alive and completely safe.
The target of this drone strike was Hakimullah, an intelligence official in North Waziristans main city of Miranshah told AFP. He was present at this place for quite some time. We are not sure whether he was killed or survived - we are investigating it. Other security and intelligence officials in the area confirmed he was the target, but asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the strikes.
We are receiving reports about his death but we are not 100 percent sure, a senior security official said.
A likely successor would be Hakimullahs deputy, Wali-ur-Rehman, who is in charge of Taliban forces in South Waziri-stan. The former teacher is considered more sober and astute than the brash Hakimullah, who has a reputation of being an especially brutal leader.
Hakimullah Mehsuds wher-eabouts have not been known since the army launched an offensive in his South Wazir-istan bastion in mid-October and captured his strongholds.
Hakimullah Mehsud assumed leadership of the group blamed for the deaths of thousands of people in attacks across the country after his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a US drone strike in early August last year.
The TTP denied Baitullah Mehsuds death for weeks, apparently amid fierce infighting over his succession. Hakimullah Mehsud himself had to counter rumours of his own demise at the hands of a rival militant in October.
He appeared in a video clip vowing severe new attacks to avenge Baitullah Mehsuds death, and since then there has been a surge in deadly bomb blasts targeting civilian gathering places and government installations.
Then on January 9, the TTP chief appeared in video clip alongside a Jordanian who blew himself up on a US military base in Afghanistan last month, killing seven CIA agents and his Jordanian handler.
The bomber also claimed the attack was to avenge the death of Baitullah Mehsud, and sources close to intelligence services said US efforts to track Hakimullah Mehsud had been stepped up since the CIA bombing.
The strikes fuel anti-American sentiment and draw public condemnation from the government, but US officials defend them as necessary to protect around 113,000 US and NATO troops in Afghanistan.