Confirmed? Baitullah Mehsud Killed In Airstrike Says Captured Taliban Spokesman

This would indeed be good news. All too frequently, confirmation of successful airstrikes against high value targets is hard to come by because of an inability to obtain proof that the target was indeed killed. However, this report appears to give credence to the reports that have been circulating that Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a UAV airstrike.

The death of Pakistan's Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud has been confirmed by his close aide who was on Tuesday captured by local
militiamen in country’s northwestern tribal region, government officials said.

"Maulvi Omer has confirmed to security officials that Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a missile strike by a US drone," NWFP information minister Iftikhar Hussain told media.

Maulvi Omer who, until recent, was a mouthpiece for the Baitullah Mehsud-led TTP, was arrested along with his two colleagues by local pro-government militia in the restive Mohmand Agency. The militia then handed him over to security forces. The captured militant leader was going on foot to the Bajaur Agency, his native tribal town.

Earlier Omer declined that Mehsud was killed in a missile strike in Waziristan. "Yes, we have arrested Maulvi Omar and he will shortly be produced before the media", a senior military official said.

Omer's (sometimes reported as Umar) capture was not the only high profile target captured in recent days.

Umar's capture came a day after police arrested militant commander Qair Saifullah, another close Mehsud aide, as he was being treated in a private hospital in Islamabad, the capital.

Saifullah, who is reportedly linked to al-Qaida, told police he had been wounded in an American 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.

Saifullah appeared Tuesday before a special anti-terrorism court along with Zaid Ikram, an aide arrested along with him. Both were ordered held for four days for investigation, prosecutor Raja Yaseen said, but he would not elaborate on what charges they would face.