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Pakistan al Qaeda chief killed by US drone: Officials
Badr Mansoor, who reputedly sent fighters to Afghanistan and ran a training camp in North Waziristan, killed.
Four people were killed in the strike.
MIRANSHAH: US missiles on Thursday killed al Qaeda’s chief in Pakistan, one of the Americans’ main targets and wanted for attacks that killed scores of people, officials said.
Badr Mansoor, who reputedly sent fighters to Afghanistan and ran a training camp in North Waziristan, was killed in a pre-dawn drone strike on a compound near the Afghan border, Pakistani officials and a member of his group told AFP.
“He died in the missile attacks overnight in Miranshah. His death is a major blow to al Qaeda’s abilities to strike in Pakistan,” a senior Pakistani official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
His death was confirmed by one of his loyalists.
“Badr Mansoor was killed in the missile attack,” a militant among his group confirmed by telephone.
Intelligence officials in North Waziristan said Mansoor had been killed, but other Pakistani officials were divided.
“We’re not sure. We cannot give confirmation just like that,” one of them told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A US drone attack had targeted a militant compound killed four insurgents in North Waziristan, early morning on Thursday, security officials had said.
Two missiles hit the compound located in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, a security official had said.
“A US drone fired two missiles at a compound used by militants in Miranshah and four militants have been killed.”
The incident and death toll were confirmed by intelligence sources.
“Taliban fighters had started hiding here in rented buildings and those killed are believed to be militants,” one official said, requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
Officials said the death toll could rise because of damage to buildings next to the one targeted by the drone.
This strike followed a drone attack, earlier, on Wednesday on a compound in Tappi, 10 kilometres (six miles) southeast of Miranshah, which security officials said killed 10 insurgents.
Several militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda, have a presence in Pakistan’s border tribal regions, taking advantage of a porous border with Afghanistan to conduct cross-border attacks, or plot violence elsewhere.
North Waziristan is also an important base for the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, an Afghan militant faction allied with the Taliban.
While the Haqqanis say they no longer need havens in North Waziristan and stay in Afghanistan, they are known to still maintain a presence in the Pakistani border region.
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Reader Comments (53)
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Drone a day keeps the bad guys at bay.
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No Army. No Airforce..no retaliation…lol….time to cut the military budget.
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Hellfire in pakistan
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Why can’t media be allowed in the region? Truth has always been hidden from the ordinary Paki?
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Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un.May the Almighty Allah(swt) grant Jannah to the brave mujahideen of Allah’s army.America,Israel and India will face the wrath of Allah.
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@Cautious:
Cant shoot all the people in that region, but its fine as long as Americans sleep under the false pretense of safety and security.
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@shaheen1shaheen2: yes shaheen 1 and 2. We are all eagerly waiting to face the wrath of Allah even if it means more terrorists being killed. Allah’s army ? You must be joking! Gods army would be an army of peace, not death and destruction.Drones are doing the right thing by taking out these messengers of death.
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@shaheen1shaheen2: ‘America,Israel and India will face the wrath of Allah’ .Pakistan is suffering the wreath of Allah everyday. What wrong have you done to deserver it?
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Normalization of relationship between Pakistan and US. They would continue the attacks and we would continue to condemn them for public’s consumption. The objectives of NATO are achieved. Recommend
When the NATO attack on the Pakistani base took place, the military promised that it would take retaliatory measures if drones fly inside Pakistani territory. What happened to that promise? Looks like the politicians are not the only ones who make false promises.
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@shaheen1shaheen2: haha.. cool one….I just showed your comments to my Indian friends who don’t believe that even educated people in pak think like you.. :)) .. Why should you use the word “allah army”. Why are you denigrating Islam ??
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Nand, Pakistan is being tested by Allah. American, Israel, and India will face Allah’s wrath. Those are very different things from the faith’s point of view.
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@shaheen1shaheen2:
Do you mean terrorists are allaha’s army. Get you head checked by some good doctor
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@shaheen1shaheen2:
how pathetically this guy justifying terrorists and terrorism!!!!!!!!!! man, do you think that others are fools like you? stop using religion for terrorismRecommend
where is imran khan
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Those who are the defenders of our sovereignty are compromising on it, thats very sad even they know it the majority does not support these operation, and that’s why the Army and Gov. never admitted it publicly that Pak have permitted US to carry out such strikes
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@Kaalchakra: The last time Allah tested Pakistan, Pakistan lost half of its land and Bangladesh was born. This time when Allah tests Pakistan, Pakistan will end up loosing half of its land again with the birth of azaad Baluchistan.
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@shaheen1shaheen2:
I hope all of these ‘mujahideen’ embrace Jannah as soon as possible, without killing more of us. Maybe a mass ‘Jannah embracement’ helped on by drones and Pakistan Army will be the safest and surest option.
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@Aarvey,india:
If we agree with your notion that terrorists are being killed by the US drones then why aren’t they killing the terrorists (Indian Army) who are terrorising, murdering and raping women in Indian Held Kashmir and similar crimes against humanity are committed by them in Nagaland and Aasam? You observe the terrorists of other countries but conveniently forget to mention your own terrorists who are uniformed and non uniformed.
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@Shahin,Well Allah Wrath will fall on US,Irsael or India or not,Time will tell.
At Present,Try to save urself and ur Pakistan from wrath of Taliban as they r going to avenge the Death of this slain leader from Pakistan.
Good Luck.
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Looks like Pak US relationship is back on track.
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Very strange, our Kaptaan saheb is silent!
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and this is how the Americans defended their drone strikes….proof please ?
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@shaheen1shaheen2: Yo… dude… Grass is bad for health…Get to the nearest Drug Rehabilitation clinic
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Bravo Drone, simply just love it when it wipes out the enemies of humanity
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A nation which has been facing insurgency in Kashmir, northeastern states and large swathes of land are under mao/naxal control does not need to teach others about terrorism or state terrorism. This is a site for posting comments not to vent ur hatred for pakistanis or muslim for that matter (as much as h would like to hide it in the garb of secularism).
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Americans and suicide bombers are racing for who kill the most these days
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What’s the appropriate U.S. response when a drone k!ll$ innocent people – oh yeah – OOPS!
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bingo
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How many Al Qaeda chiefs have they killed so far? 123536? Al Qaeda is a dead organization thanks to ISI. Now they’re just killing innocent people.
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Salmon Raza :
“A nation which has been facing insurgency in Kashmir,”
This is because of the support from Pakistan, This year Indian side of the Kashmir had the maximum tourists compared to the recent past.
” northeastern states and large swathes of land are under mao/naxal control”
ULFA has surrendered all their arms. Bangladesh and Burma has turned over the fugitives to India. Negotiations are on to address their grievances. Maoists have not come for discussions for a long time inspite of Govt appeal, STill our army/airforce do not attack them. Neither the maoists are religious fanatics or do they attack any other country.
Now that Mr Raza, your concerns have been answered, can the secular Indians post the comments as answers to the pakistani comments which unnecessarily drag India into anything they see/hear/smell/eat and what not. Once you stop dragging India for unrelated topics, these comments will not appear.
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@Ejaz:
“@Aarvey,india:
If we agree with your notion that terrorists are being killed by the US drones then why aren’t they killing the terrorists (Indian Army) who are terrorising, murdering and raping women in Indian Held Kashmir and similar crimes against humanity are committed by them in Nagaland and Aasam? “
How do you know that the mote is not in your own eyes? You can’t see terrorists right under your nose while the whole world does. Then, you see them where no one sees them. But, you can trust your eyes when you see a drone striking a vicious beast dead; it just does that.
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Yes the drone strikes are killing terrorists, and I have no problem with that, but along with the terrorists, a lot of innocent civilians are being killed as well who are within a certain radius of the target which I have problem with, and we need to realize it!!
Here’s a story of a 16 year old kid Tariq Aziz who was killed by a drone along with his 12 year old cousin while on their way to pick up their aunt!!
http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=29932#
I don’t think any of us would justify the killings of these kids, if we really care for humanity, because we know they did not deserve to die!!
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they can kill Osama Bin Laden once again by drone in that region and whole world will believe it !!!!!
so basically it is “all work done”, “we win”, “aim achieved”, “Let’s go home” strategy for the U.S. !!!!!
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@shaheen1shaheen2:
Al-Hamdulillah, they have been facing wrath of Allah and sane people. But slave-minded people can not accept the truth, Holy Qur’an & Sunnah, believing in absorbing media.
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Where is PAF?
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@shaheen1shaheen2: when will they face the wrath???.All these countries are thriving and enjoying. Cursing really doesn’t help much
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@Viper
The most effective method of eliminating the drones would be surface to air missiles – but that would require you to maintain a significant military presence in North Waziristan and there lies the rub. The militants won’t allow you to have a significant military presence so you would have to fight your way in and eliminate the militants – without the militants you wouldn’t need the surface to air drones because the militants are the only reason for the drones.
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It amazes to see how narrow minded some people are.
shaheen1shaheen2: America, Israel and India will face the wrath of Allah.
Pakistan doesn’t progress because of leaders and people like these. Even if India, U.S. and Isrrael do anything good, they will always be blamed and condamned.
Many people are addicted to suffering and have a mental habit of pointing out the worst in people or situations. Not only are they robbing themselves of joy, but their failure to appreciate all the goodness that life has to offer actually diminishes all that good. Both our blessing and our condemnation have power. Thinking that something is bad has the power to make it so in our experience.
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@vasan
Tourists visiting kashmir, well thats a good thing. We in Pakistan are least bothered. India is all over Balouchistan. This tit for tat can go on.
Comments written should be focused to the topic and rational, not slanted and hate based.
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@Cautious:
Too much logic for the average poster.
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Lets just pray that the drone strikes their blessed missiles over all those who support such strikes.
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Salman Raza: My comments were only against your ranting against India/Indians. If India wasnt dragged in (unconnected to this topic), I guess there was no need for me to write the truth. Regarding Baluchistan and India, there was no evidence ever given for that so called “mischief” by India. Pl ask your estd and govt to provide evidence or better still, go to ICJ or UN with their evidence and put India to the mat. We are not interested in tit ror tat.
I didnt comment on this article as this is not concerned with India.
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Terrorists are short of hiding places.Their supporter are short of logic. The name of Islam can not cover the crimes of terrorists & suicide bombers.
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@Pakistani:
False? We haven’t had a single death on our own soil since 9/11.
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I always wonder when I read comments about the massive civilian casualties from drone strikes. Since neither the Taliban nor the Pakistani government will allow free access by the press, how does anyone know. The descriptions I read in news sites like this seldom mention civilian casualties, but talks only of terrorists and insurgents killed.
Also, I think anyone who seriously considered the situation would likely agree that the people being killed (at least the great majority) are enemies of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and most of the western world. Please ask yourself, “Would you really want to live in a society ruled over by these guys? If the answer is “no”, then you need to support the fight against them, because, make no mistake, without that fight they are coming after you too eventually.
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@Pakistani:
Are you secure?
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Give peace a chance!!!
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@shaheen1shaheen2: Well, they may or may not. But thanks to people with mindset like yours, Pakistan is certainly facing Allah’s wrath right now. May God save Pakistan from the likes of you folks.
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@Kaalchakra: Even if we accept your point, in all probability, going by the state of affairs, Pakistan and the likes of yours will not live to see that day. Use some commonsense. It is not a very smart thing to burn your own house in trying to set someone else’s on fire. Have you even thought of what would happen to you guys if US and Europe were to stop all imports from your country? Or maybe it’s beyond your capacity to think rationally.
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@Singh: lol! They have been kidnapped from in front of their bases by the “agencies”. Supreme court is in the process of trying to have them presented before the court.
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I’ve heard today about a murder of one of the officials. I think it can be directly connected with Mansoor’s elimination. Do I correctly suppose that it could be an urgent revenge?
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@Salman Raza sure dude…you are as right as Taliban morality…but there is a difference…terrorists from India do not go about killing others in foreign land…and in spite of all these we still manage to make our country one of the fastest developing in the world…on the other hand your history is replete with fraud leaders who allow their own people to get killed…Best of luck…
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