Apr 16 2008
Pakistanis Take Out Infamous al-Qaeda Taliban Leader
Good news from the War on Terror as Pakistani forces killed an infamous al-Qaeda leader:
A senior Taliban commander who became a hero to Islamic militants for his role in shooting down a U.S. helicopter in 2005, killing all 16 special forces troops aboard, has been killed by Pakistani security forces, officials and Taliban militants tell CBS News.
Mullah Ismail, a notorious Taliban commander from the Afghan province of Kunar, was killed in a shootout with Pakistani police as he traveled with a kidnapped trader, a local police officer said Wednesday. He was apparently on his way into the lawless Northwest Frontier Province along the Afghan border.
…
A Taliban sub-commander in Kunar province, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not confirm the killing. But he told CBS News Ismail’s death “would be a full-scale blow.” He praised Ismail for the shooting down of the Chinook in 2005.
Ismail was also said to be a key facilitator of al Qaeda militants in the region – many of whom come from outside southeast Asia and do not speak the local languages. According to Taliban sources, Osama bin Laden personally honored Ismail’s authority in the area after the Chinook attack in a letter sent through an intermediary.
One has to always ponder how security forces were able to discover these leaders and take them out. As we take out more of them we learn about other leaders from intelligence we find with the terrorists, and possibly by intelligence we are gaining from locals fed up with the thugs in their midst. One of the things that has been happening under the radar is the increased coordination between Pakistani, Afghan and NATO/US forces in the region. This success may be a result of that increased coordination. If so we could expect more to come.
“One has to always ponder how security forces were able to discover these leaders and take them out.”
Well, it appears that in this case the guy had kidnapped someone and was moving him to another location. It appears that someone stumbled across him when he was in the middle of a criminal act. Imagine I had kidnapped you and were moving you somewhere and you saw a cop. That cop might not have to be a physics major to figure out that something was wrong if I were trying to avoid him and you were trying to attract his attention.
Another dark day for Truthy.
that’s a shame
Minor complaint. But, I think you confused Taliban leader with Al Qaeda leader.
Rick
Rick,
Thanks!
Tit-tat, pool-pond, Taliban-al Qaeda, Norm-Truthy, they’re all the same pigs. No biggie.
They all look the same to me
They smell like falafel too.
That’s what DC gets for attempting to tell Islamophobic bigots there are different stripes of Taliban.
I think Truthy needs a diaper change.
Dc’s not even in this string.
Truthy
hukka pipe
put down