Drone Kills Pakistan Taliban's No 2 29 May 2013
A U.S. drone strike killed the No. 2 of the Pakistani Taliban in the North Waziristan region on Wednesday, three security officials said, in what would be a major blow to the militancy.
The drone strike killed seven people, Pakistani security officials said, including Taliban deputy commander Wali-ur-Rehman, in the first such attack since a May 11 general election in which the use of the unmanned aircraft was a major issue.
It was also the first reported U.S. drone strike since President Barack Obama announced last week that the United States was scaling back the drone program.
Wali-ur-Rehman had been poised to succeed Hakimullah Mehsud as leader of the Pakistani Taliban, a senior army official based in the South Waziristan region, had said in December.
"This is a huge blow to militants and a win in the fight against insurgents," one security official told Reuters.
The Pakistani Taliban are a separate entity allied to the Afghan Taliban. Known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, they have launched devastating attacks against the Pakistani military and civilians.
The White House said Wali-ur-Rehman was wanted in the killing of seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer in a 2009 suicide bombing by an al Qaeda triple agent at Forward Operating Base Chapman, Afghanistan. The attack was featured in the film "Zero Dark Thirty" about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
The Pakistani Taliban leader "has participated in cross-border attacks in Afghanistan against U.S. and NATO personnel and horrific attacks against Pakistani civilians and soldiers," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
In line with White House practice not to discuss drone strikes, Carney said he could not confirm the killing. But even his discussion of drone policy at a news briefing was an unusual level of openness for the White House.
Obama said in a major speech last week that the United States would only use those drone strikes when a threat was "continuing and imminent," a nuanced change from the previous policy of launching strikes against a significant threat.
Under the new presidential guidance, the Defense Department rather than the CIA will take the lead in launching lethal drones, but the CIA is expected to continue running drone operations in Pakistan for now.
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