Security forces captured the Pakistani Taliban’s top spokesman in an operation near the Afghan border, intelligence officials said yesterday, dealing another blow to the militants following the reported killing of their leader earlier this month.
The seizure of Mauvi Umar follows government claims of disarray in the leadership of the Taliban over who should replace their chief, Baitullah Mehsud, who is believed to have been killed in a CIA missile strike on Aug. 5.
TRIBAL ASSISTANCE
Umar was seized in a village in the Mohmand tribal region on Monday night while he was traveling in a car with two associates to South Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold, three intelligence officials said.
Local tribal elders assisted troops in locating Umar in the village of Khawazeo, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. They said Umar’s arrest would likely be publicly announced later yesterday.
Pakistan army or government spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.
As the official spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the umbrella organization for various regional and tribal militant movements, Umar frequently called journalists to claim responsibility for terrorist attacks in Pakistan. He was known to be close to Mehsud.
Last week he called the Associated Press to insist Mehsud was still alive and deny reports of a power struggle within the Pakistani Taliban’s disparate factions over who would succeed him.
SECOND ARREST
Umar’s capture was the second high-profile arrest of a senior Taliban figure in 24 hours.
On Monday night, police said they had arrested a militant commander and close Mehsud aide who was being treated in a private hospital in Islamabad, the capital.
Militant commander Qari Saifullah, who is reportedly linked to al-Qaeda, told police he had been wounded in a US missile strike in South Waziristan, said two police officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. It was unclear if it was the same strike believed to have killed Mehsud.
Pakistan’s Western allies are desperate to see a crackdown on militants threatening the stability of the nuclear-armed country as well as the success of the US and NATO-led mission in neighboring Afghanistan, where violence is surging ahead of elections later this week.
Visiting US envoy Richard Holbrooke on Sunday praised recent gains against the militants, including the reported death of Mehsud and the retaking of the Swat Valley, 160km from Islamabad, from the Taliban last month.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS