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Top Pakistan Taliban leader 'killed by drone'

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EC:
Via al Jazeera: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/05/201352955158237275.html


--- Quote ---A US drone strike has killed the number two of the Pakistani Taliban, Wali ur Rehman, in the North Waziristan region, according to security officials in Pakistan.

Rehman, who had a $5m US government bounty on his head, reportedly died along with at least five others when two missiles were fired on a house early on Wednesday.

Officials in several towns, as well as tribal and intelligence sources, said Rehman was killed in the attack in Chashma village near Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan.

Two officials said their informants in the field saw Rehman's body, while a third said intelligence authorities had intercepted communications between fighters saying Rehman had been killed.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, however, denied the reports.

"This appears to me to be false news. I don't have any such information," Ahsanullah Ahsan told the AP news agency.
--- End quote ---

More plus video report at link.

EC:
Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/30/us-pakistan-taliban-idUSBRE94T0BZ20130530


--- Quote ---Pakistani Taliban pick new number two after drone strike: sources
By Saud Mehsud

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan | Thu May 30, 2013 6:17am EDT

(Reuters) - Pakistani Taliban militants have chosen a new deputy commander to replace their previous second-in-command who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in the North Waziristan region, sources in the militant group said on Thursday.

The previous deputy commander, Wali-ur-Rehman, was killed in an attack by a missile-firing U.S. drone aircraft in the militant stronghold of North Waziristan, on northwest Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, on Wednesday, Pakistani security officials and militants said.

A Pakistani Taliban committee met late on Wednesday to chose a new deputy after Wali-ur-Rehman was buried in a low-key ceremony, three Taliban members told Reuters.
--- End quote ---

More at link.

So much for the initial denial.

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