Taliban Commander Narrowly Escapes Raid
Written by CBS News' Sami Yousafzai in Afghanistan, and Tucker Reals in London.
A senior Taliban military commander narrowly escaped with his life last week in an attack by the Pakistani security forces near the Afghan border, his spokesman and a subcommander tell CBS News.
Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, who was reportedly forced out of his prominent role as military commander in the hard-line movement's "southern zone" of Afghanistan by Taliban leader Mullah Omar, was not injured in the strike, but two of his body guards were, according to spokesman Shabudin Atal.
One of Dadullah's subcommander's in the south also said the long-time commander, who was sometimes at odds with other members of the group's leadership, had escaped an attack.
Pakistani intelligence and security officials did not deny the attack in a remote village in Baluchistan province, but refused to say whether Dadullah was the target. A security official in Quetta, who asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the intelligence involved, confirmed that the attack had taken place.
Neither Taliban sources, nor Pakistani government officials were willing to give an exact date, saying only that the attack occurred early last week.
The subcommander, also a close personal friend of Dadullah's who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity, said the attack came as Dadullah was heading to a meeting with some of the leaders under his command. He said that Pakistani intelligence and security forces conducted a raid before the senior member had arrived at the meeting house in the Pishin district.
He said a gun battle between the Pakistani forces and Dadullah's subcommanders and fighters left two of the senior commander's bodyguards wounded, but Dadullah himself escaped the violence unscathed.
Taliban sources say the raid disrupted what was to be a "very important" meeting between Dadullah and his subordinates, but that it would soon be rescheduled to discuss further plans.
The raid came weeks after a Taliban spokesman told the media that Mansoor Dadullah had been fire from his commanding role by the group's supreme commander, Mullah Omar.
"Mullah Mansoor Dadullah has been dismissed as the Taliban commander because he disobeyed the orders of the Islamic Emirate," Zabihullah Mujaheed said in the statement obtained by the AFP news agency at the end of December.
CBSNews.com reported in Sept. 2007 that Dadullah was facing opposition from many members of the Taliban's 30-member Supreme Council, who had grown wary of the militant's close ties to al Qaeda and his refusal to negotiate with the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Mansoor Dadullah, brother of the Taliban's slain former military commander Mullah Dadullah, wielded a great deal of military power in Afghanistan, giving orders to about 120 subcommanders in six of the country's southern provinces, and the effect of his dismissal - which cannot be confirmed - by Mullah Omar is still unclear.
Dadullah's spokesman, Shabudin Atal, told CBS News that his boss doesn't believe he has actually been fired by the supreme leader, but "if he does come to understand that, he will not mind, and would serve as foot solder not as commander."
Taliban sources say Dadullah was likely dismissed over an internal tussle with Mullah Bradar, who is know to be a close personal friend of Omar's and is reportedly acting as the supreme leader's deputy.
Well-known Taliban spokesman Qari Yusef Ahmadi told broadcaster Radio Free Afghanistan in Sept. 2007 that Bradar was to lead a new offensive in southern Afghanistan.
CBS News' Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad contributed to this report.