Word: mehsud
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...girls' schools. A spokesman for Mullah Fazlullah, the local Taliban leader who used to work the resort's chairlift, said their group was forced to act because government security forces were using some of the schools as bunkers. In the forbidding tribal zone of Waziristan, followers of Baitullah Mehsud, the physical-education teacher turned assassin (both the CIA and Pakistan's intelligence agencies say he is behind the attack that killed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in December), slaughtered 22 government negotiators seeking to cement a cease-fire accord. And on July 6 a suicide bomber blew himself up near...
...Baitullah Mehsud, head of the Pakistani Taliban and the man accused of assassinating former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has embraced the cause of the Red Mosque and refers to it often in his public condemnations of Musharraf's government. Mullah Fazlullah, the leader of a militant group that took over the once popular tourist destination of Swat valley has sworn to avenge the death of those lost in the raid...
...peace negotiations with militant groups. The newly elected government in Islamabad is backing the talks, and militants have agreed to stop attacking government institutions in exchange for the army pulling forces out of the tribal areas. But just a few weeks after news of the negotiations broke, Baitullah Mehsud, head of an umbrella group of insurgents called Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, declared at a press conference that he would continue his jihad against foreign forces fighting in Afghanistan...
...even if Mehsud can turn off attacks in Waziristan, there's no evidence he can control militants elsewhere in Pakistan. Today a car bomb at a police station in the town of Mardan in the northwest killed four and injured 30. Militants there say the blast was in revenge for the death of a rebel leader who was killed by police three weeks ago, but insist that the cease-fire is still in effect. "We abide by our announcement of a cease-fire. Today's attack was to level the score with police," Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar told...
...Talking to Mehsud may help protect Pakistan, says Weinbaum, but would ultimately do little to prevent international terrorism. Mehsud wants the Pakistan government to withdraw the military from the tribal areas and allow him to continue his war against NATO troops in Afghanistan. "Even if the Pakistani government gets a good deal, it would still only be a kind of containment policy," says Weinbaum. "Our interests will not be served by this. It has very little implication for what we are interested in - breaking up terrorist networks, al-Qaeda, and impeding the insurgents going into Afghanistan...