Showing posts with label Qutab Khel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Qutab Khel. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

A Death in the Haqqani Family

Seems that the Hellfires are getting closer to their ultimate target.

From the AFP (September 15, 2010):

MIRAMSHAH: An Afghan Taliban commander and close relative of Afghan warlord Sirajuddin Haqqani was among those killed in a recent US missile strike, Pakistani security officials said Wednesday.

A US drone fired two missiles into a vehicle in Qutabkhel village in North Waziristan tribal district on Tuesday, killing four militants.

“Afghan Taliban commander Saifullah travelled to the region from Afghanistan three days ago and was killed in yesterday's US missile strike,” a senior security official in the area told AFP.

The information was based on intelligence intercepts, the official said.

He described Saifullah as the first cousin of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who runs the Haqqani network created by his father, Afghan warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani.

The network is based in North Waziristan, a known hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants just across the border from Afghanistan.

The group is blamed for fuelling the nine-year insurgency in Afghanistan; attacking US-led Nato troops and working to destabilise the Western-backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Another Pakistani security official confirmed Saifullah's death.


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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Batting 1.000

And another drone strike at Haqqani. I'm predicting one more against Haqqani and then we'll switch back to Bahadur or maybe a new target.

From the Longwar Journal (September 14, 2010):

The US executed yet another Predator strike in Pakistan's lawless tribal agency of North Waziristan today. The strike is the second today and the 11th this month.

Unmanned US Predators, or the more deadly Reapers, fired two missiles at a vehicle in the village of Qutabkhel, which is on the outskirts of Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan.

“A US drone fired two missiles on a vehicle carrying militants outside Miramshah,” a senior Pakistan security official told AFP. "At least four militants were killed in the attack.”

No senior terrorist leaders have been reported killed in the strike.

Miramshah is in the sphere of influence of the Haqqani Network, a Taliban group led by mujahedeen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj.

Earlier today, US Predators fired three missiles at a compound in the village of of Bushnarai in the Shawal area of North Waziristan. Eleven terrorists, including several "foreigners," a term reserved for al Qaeda operatives, were killed in the attack.