Captured aide confirms that Taleban chief did die in air strike

Published on Tuesday 18 August 2009 22:03

SECURITY forces have captured the Pakistani Taleban's top spokesman near the Afghan border – and he has confirmed the death of militant leader Baitullah Mehsud.

US and Pakistani officials were almost certain that Mehsud was killed in a remote drone strike on 5 August, but at least three Taleban operatives, including the detainee, Maulvi Umar, had called media organisations following the attack to say he was still alive.

His capture was the second arrest of a prominent Taleban figure in 24 hours, dealing another blow to the network.

As the official spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan, the umbrella organisation formed in 2007 for various regional and tribal militant movements, Umar frequently called journalists to claim responsibility for terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

Umar initially operated relatively openly – a reflection of the former government's reluctance to tackle the group. Reporters had his home and mobile phone numbers. Umar would occasionally summon Pakistani reporters stationed in Khar, the main city in Bajur tribal region, for news conferences at his headquarters in Mamund town.

But after the army began an offensive in April, Umar changed phone numbers frequently. He never appeared in public, but still continued to phone the media with messages from the Taleban leadership.

He was captured along with two associates in a village in the Mohmand tribal region on Monday night while travelling in a car to South Waziristan, a Taleban stronghold.

Intelligence officials said tribal elders assisted troops in locating Umar in the village of Khawazeo. The announcement of Umar's capture came a day after police arrested militant commander Qari Saifullah, another Mehsud aide, as he was being treated in a private hospital in Islamabad, the capital.