Taliban death reported

ISLAMABAD – A top Pakistani Taliban commander close to al-Qaida is believed to have been killed in an army airstrike, officials said Saturday, in the latest apparent blow to insurgents who have attacked Pakistan and threatened U.S. forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

Maulvi Faqir Mohammed was believed to be among a number of insurgents killed Friday at a sprawling compound in the northwest Mohmand tribal region, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.

He said authorities had not identified the bodies of Mohammed or his fellow commander Qari Ziaur Rehman, but all the militants hiding at the site were killed after the helicopter gunships were dispatched on “real-time” intelligence.

“If Faqir Mohammed and Qari Ziaur Rehman are alive, then I will be surprised,” he told Pakistan’s Express news channel after receiving a briefing from the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Mohammed was a deputy commander in the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan – Pakistan’s Taliban Movement – leading the network’s operations in the Bajur and Mohmand tribal regions. He also was close to al-Qaida No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri, who along with Osama bin Laden is suspected of using Pakistan’s tribal badlands as a hide-out.

If confirmed, Mohammed’s death would be the latest in a series of victories for Pakistan and the U.S. in the battle against Islamist extremists.

Over the past two months, Pakistan has captured several Afghan Taliban leaders hiding on its soil, intelligence officials have said. Among them is Mullah Baradar, the top deputy to Mullah Omar, the Afghan Taliban’s supreme chief.

A January U.S. missile strike is believed to have killed Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud. The Taliban have denied that, but have not provided any evidence to prove he is still alive.