Officials: Taliban Boss's Wife Killed

(CBS/AP)  Two Pakistani intelligence and one army official said Wednesday that a U.S. missile strike in northeastern Pakistan had killed a wife of top Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

Mehsud's associates would not confirm the report, although they did say a woman was killed in the missile strike in South Waziristan, part of the lawless tribal region along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan and where Taliban and al Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding.

Two intelligence and one army official, who all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the strike had destroyed the home of Mehsud's father-in-law, Akramud Din, and that two people had been killed, including one of Mehsud's two wives.

One of the intelligence officials said agents were trying to get details about the second person who died.

A Mehsud family member, Muhammad Iqbal Mehsud, told CBS News' Sami Yousafzai by telephone that the house was attacked by a U.S. unmanned aircraft, and that the Taliban leader's wife was "seriously injured". He said he couldn't confirm or deny reports of her death, but was adamant that Mehsud himself was not in the house during the strike.

"About 40 people were gathered for a family function at the home, only one room was struck by the drone missile," said Iqbal Mehsud. "A total of five were injured."

A local Taliban commander, Muhammed Islam Jar, also told Yousafzai Mehsud was not in the house during the strike.

The U.S. Embassy had no comment. Washington generally does not acknowledge being responsible for such strikes.

A senior Pakistani security official told CBS News' Farhan Bokhari on Wednesday that their reports also indicated Mehsud was not present during the strike.

"This attack, however, tells you we are getting closer and closer to Baitullah Mehsud," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Our intelligence is improving rapidly. This latest attack gives us a lot of confidence. Today, it's his wife, tomorrow it may be Mehsud himself."

Mehsud has suspected links to a number of prominent attacks in the country, including the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, reports Bokhari.

Pakistan's air force and the military have carried out several attacks targeting Mehsud, and the army has said it is preparing for a major offensive against Mehsud and his network in the tribal region.

Wednesday morning's attack is the latest in a series of suspected U.S. missile strikes in recent weeks targeting Mehsud.

Pakistani and U.S. officials say the missiles have killed several al Qaeda operatives in the North and South Waziristan tribal regions where Pakistan has deployed more than 100,000 troops to flush out militants and their local supporters.

Pakistan has publicly opposed such attacks, saying they were counterproductive and were angering local residents. Islamabad has asked Washington to provide it with access to the latest technology to it so that Pakistan's own military could carry out such attacks.

[fwc01]

Obama: socialist, deceiver, evil.

?The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience? Albert Camus

[tautomer]

Obama murders another innocent bystander. Just as he went after the families of his opponents during the electionm he now goes after the families of his political opponents round the world! Where is the anti-War movement? It;s been silenced by Obama. For shame!

[mysteriousjz]

The statistics show the ratio of civilian death as 50:1 or even as high as 75:1 by some human rights commissions. This does noty iclude countess injured badly and/or maimed. That makes all this war crimes. Needless to say, the repercussions of these atrocities are dangerous and will haunt our children for generations to come.

May God bless these innocent departed souls, and ease the pain on those injured; and ease the hellfire (parted souls and/or souls-one-day-to-be) on those who bomb, kill, and maim people of the mudhouses and those who condone such brutal and barbaric acts.

[hower4]

Forget hellfire, it doesn't exist. The people most responsible for the mass murder of innocents are RIGHT NOW living lives of luxury and protection, paid for by the US taxpayers.

You're also right about the ratio of civilian deaths. Why is it that in the less 'sophisticated' wars like WWII the proportion of civilian deaths was about 50%? Why has it now gone up to 95-99% in Iraq/Afghanistan? What went wrong since then? It's not technology, so it must be the morality of those prosecuting the wars..........

[mysteriousjz]

I am seeing two extremists, just on the opposite sides of the same spectrum. Legitimizing murdering family members and others around because "you" have declared a war against some enemy, equally legitimizes their attacks on "you," because they have also declared you as enemy and are waging a war against you. Complain no more when they get you again and again and they will.

Therefore, call yourself extremist, not an innocent angel out to deliver justice. Our children will have to pay for all this dearly for generations to come.

[orinfagel]

Well at least she won't propagate any more terrorist.

[aldon61]

War is hell. This isn't the first time civilians have been killed, nor will it be the last. No one should be happy about this killing, just accept that it happened and move on.

[hower4]

Does your helpful advice apply to the maimed and orphaned kids too?

[krontekag]

Very true Aldon.

Hower4, you should have the intellectual honesty to admit that one side has invested a lot of money and designed ROE in an attempt to avoid civilian casualties. The other side goes out of its way to inflict the same.

It's not hard to work out which side is the right one if you can just stop that knee from jerking long enough.

[tkelly80]

The U.S. doesn't practice indiscriminate killings/ we try very hard to minimize collateral damage..if we wanted to be indiscriminate...we'd have the B-1,s and B-52's carpet bomb..that's an amzing sight to see...

[zonkzilla]

Major victory! We killed someone's wife? WOW!
Did we get the kids too? The mother? The dog?
I'm sure he will just stop hating the US now and give up since we killed his wife.

[hower4]

Yes, you did get the kids too, but they're only maimed. Still, that means they can't move very fast any more, so you can probably kill them next time.

No reports about the dog...........

[ianlou]

Reports have it, they ate the dog.

[robinspp]

Taliban is a byproduct of USA. To get rid of Russia from Afghan invasion, we used and helped Taliban to grow. Now we need Russia?s help to get rid of Taliban. Now we do not know for what purpose we are fighting for? Never is it going to help us. Only we are killing the thousand of innocents and getting more enemies.

[krontekag]

Incorrect. The Taliban did not exist when the Soviets were occupying Afghanistan. The US at that time was assisting the various Mujahideen groups, the majority of which continued fighting amongst themselves after the Soviets were expelled.

In order to "stabilise" the chaotic situation in Afghanistan, the Pakistani ISSI created the Taliban from the large number of Pashtun refugees that had been quietly radicalising over their side of the border, and sent them home to "fix" Afghanistan. They still have some influence over them, but have largely lost control of their Frankenstein's Monster.

I am so sick of this lazy "US created Taliban" rubbish... almost as bad as the nonsense about the US arming Saddam (anyone wonder why the Iraqis were running around with SCUDs, T-72 tanks, MiG planes and AK47s?).

[casionova]

Its not okay for islamic radicals to kill innocent people nor is it okay for the USA (or anyone else) to do it. By all means kill the taliban, but using drone aircraft to blow up buildings has killed hundreds of innocent people over the last few years.

People who use the term "collateral" wouldnt use it when talking about their own dead family or friends if they were caught up in a violent incident.