By Bureau report
“Its true he is dead. Unfortunately he was staying at the same house which was struck by the drone in South Waziristan in August,” the Taliban commander acknowledged when contacted by phone.
Though, he did not mention the village where Tahir Yuldashev was killed, he said, the incident happened during the last week of August in South Waziristan. Other militant sources, however, said the Uzbek commander died in Kaniguram in South Waziristan, a place considered relatively safe for Taliban militants.
The Taliban commander said Tahir moved to the adjoining South Waziristan after frequent US drone attacks in Mirali in North Waziristan in which his men suffered heavy losses. He lived in Ladha and Makeen in South Waziristan for sometime but then moved to another town when US Predator planes started focusing on known strongholds of Mahsud Taliban there.
“None can escape death as finally he died in a drone attack that worried him a lot,” explained the Taliban commander who wished not to be named.The Taliban commander believed that Tahir, known as Qari Farooq in Waziristan, and his men had good relations with slain Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mahsud and his militants. It was Baitullah Mahsud and his Mahsud militants who welcomed and accommodated Tahir and his men after their eviction from Wana and Azam Warsak areas of South Waziristan by the military-backed tribal lashkar led by a pro-government Taliban commander Maulvi Nazeer and his Ahmadzai Wazir tribal militants in 2007.
Tahir and some of his people later shifted to Mirali in North Waziristan and established their training camps there. He became head of Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) when his leader Juma Namagani died in the US airstrikes in Afghanistan in 2001 after the fall of Taliban regime. August proved to be fatal for the Mahsud Taliban and their guest fighters.
Earlier on August 5, Baitullah Mahsud was killed in the US drone attack and then the noted Uzbek commander Qari Tahir in almost similar way. Pakistani military officials said they had been hearing the reports that he had been killed in drone attack but would not say any thing publicly until and unless they confirm it from their own intelligence sources. They said it was this Uzbek commander and his men who introduced the ruthless way of beheadings in the Pakistani tribal areas.
“Prior to that, Taliban didn’t do any beheadings,” said a senior Pakistani officer based in Jandola, the gateway to South Waziristan. Meanwhile, military sources said all was set for launching yet another full-scale military operation against militants in South Waziristan.
“All arrangements have been made and the operation could start any time. Besides ground troops, the Pakistan Air Force fighter planes and military helicopter gunships would also take part in the offensive against militants,” said a military officer who requested anonymity.
He felt the offensive this time would be decisive and different than those carried out in the past. The officer said the planes from air would target hideouts of militants and then troops would be dropped to secure positions on ground. He said the operation would continue till major towns were cleared from militants in South Waziristan.