ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s interior minister on Friday accused the United States of attempting to “sabotage”efforts to hold peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban after a suspected U.S. drone strike targeted senior leaders of the militant group, including the group's leader.
The strike, the second in northwestern Pakistan this week, occurred Friday evening in North Waziristan. According to local intelligence officials, several Taliban commanders, including leader Hakimullah Mehsud, were meeting at a house there to discuss how to proceed with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s effort to hold peace talks.
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Local officials said Mehsud was killed in the strike, although Pakistani leaders said they could not verify those reports.
Mehsud took over as head of the Pakistani Taliban in 2009 after the group’s previous leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a U.S. drone strike. Hakimullah Mehsud has also been reported killed on several occasions, only to quickly resurface.
The United States has a $5 million bounty on Hakimullah Mehsud for his alleged role in a 2009 attack on a CIA outpost in eastern Afghanistan that killed seven Americans. In May, a U.S. drone killed Wali ur-Rehman, then the second-ranking member of the militant group. He also had a U.S. bounty on him for his alleged role in the CIA outpost attack.
Local intelligence officials said six people were killed in Friday’s attack, including Hakimullah Mehsud’s bodyguard and driver. They said that the other four bodies are unrecognizable but that they suspect Mehsud is among the dead.
“His vehicle and close aides’ killings are the indications that Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in the attack,” one of the officials said.
If his death is confirmed, the strike could severely undermine Sharif’s plan for talks to try to end years of internal strife that has claimed the lives of more than 45,000 Pakistanis.
On Thursday, while on an official visit to London, Sharif announced that the long-awaited talks were set to begin. In a statement after the drone strike Friday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said a delegation had planned to travel Saturday morning to extend a formal invitation to Taliban leaders to meet for talks.
“The drone strike in North Waziristan is a conspiracy to sabotage the peace talks with the Taliban,” Khan said. “We were about to send a three-member delegation to the Taliban.”
Khan added that it was “too early to say anything” about whether Hakimullah had been killed. “We are still receiving initial reports,” he said.
The strike could also undermine relations between the United States and Pakistan just a week after Sharif and Obama met at the White House and pledged closer cooperation between the two countries.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement late Friday strongly condemning the latest strike, saying such attacks “set dangerous precedents” for foreign ties.
“These drone strikes have a negative impact on the mutual desire of both countries to forge a cordial and cooperative relationship and to ensure peace and stability in the region,” it said.
On Friday, the senior political leader in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, former international cricket star Imran Khan, threatened to cut off NATO supply routes through the province if U.S. drone strikes interfered with the peace process.
Shaiq Hussain contributed to this report.
The strike, the second in northwestern Pakistan this week, occurred Friday evening in North Waziristan. According to local intelligence officials, several Taliban commanders, including leader Hakimullah Mehsud, were meeting at a house there to discuss how to proceed with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s effort to hold peace talks.
Graphic
Explore documented drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia
Latest stories from Foreign
Michael Birnbaum Stung by spying reports, Germany looks at keeping data within its borders. Some call idea a gimmick.
Anthony Faiola Environmentalists are alarmed by rollback of “green taxes,” other measures taken by prime minister.
Max Ehrenfreund
The pair are charged in connection with alleged eavesdropping at the News of the World.
A. Odysseus Patrick In a country that has welcomed American investment, farmers fight Archer Daniels Midland.
William Wan Police say they have arrested five suspects, apparently from the Uighur region, in the crash that killed five.
Local officials said Mehsud was killed in the strike, although Pakistani leaders said they could not verify those reports.
Mehsud took over as head of the Pakistani Taliban in 2009 after the group’s previous leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a U.S. drone strike. Hakimullah Mehsud has also been reported killed on several occasions, only to quickly resurface.
The United States has a $5 million bounty on Hakimullah Mehsud for his alleged role in a 2009 attack on a CIA outpost in eastern Afghanistan that killed seven Americans. In May, a U.S. drone killed Wali ur-Rehman, then the second-ranking member of the militant group. He also had a U.S. bounty on him for his alleged role in the CIA outpost attack.
Local intelligence officials said six people were killed in Friday’s attack, including Hakimullah Mehsud’s bodyguard and driver. They said that the other four bodies are unrecognizable but that they suspect Mehsud is among the dead.
“His vehicle and close aides’ killings are the indications that Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in the attack,” one of the officials said.
If his death is confirmed, the strike could severely undermine Sharif’s plan for talks to try to end years of internal strife that has claimed the lives of more than 45,000 Pakistanis.
On Thursday, while on an official visit to London, Sharif announced that the long-awaited talks were set to begin. In a statement after the drone strike Friday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said a delegation had planned to travel Saturday morning to extend a formal invitation to Taliban leaders to meet for talks.
“The drone strike in North Waziristan is a conspiracy to sabotage the peace talks with the Taliban,” Khan said. “We were about to send a three-member delegation to the Taliban.”
Khan added that it was “too early to say anything” about whether Hakimullah had been killed. “We are still receiving initial reports,” he said.
The strike could also undermine relations between the United States and Pakistan just a week after Sharif and Obama met at the White House and pledged closer cooperation between the two countries.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement late Friday strongly condemning the latest strike, saying such attacks “set dangerous precedents” for foreign ties.
“These drone strikes have a negative impact on the mutual desire of both countries to forge a cordial and cooperative relationship and to ensure peace and stability in the region,” it said.
On Friday, the senior political leader in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, former international cricket star Imran Khan, threatened to cut off NATO supply routes through the province if U.S. drone strikes interfered with the peace process.
Shaiq Hussain contributed to this report.