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Drone kills top Talibunny Mullah Nazir
An American drone strike killed a key Taliban commander, his deputy and eight others in northwest Pakistan, according to intelligence sources and tribal leaders on Thursday.

Maulvi Nazir Wazir, also known as Mullah "Lucky" Nazir, was killed Wednesday night when missiles struck a mud house in South Waziristan, according to the sources. He had survived at least one previous drone attack and was injured weeks earlier in a bomb attack believed to have been launched by Taliban rivals.

His key commanders and his deputy, Ratta Khan, were also killed in the attack at Angoor Adda, near the provincial capital of Wana.
So we got the number 2 and a whole bunch of number 3s? Most excellent!
Nazir had expelled foreign militants from his area, attacked US forces in Afghanistan and had signed non-aggression pacts with the Pakistani military in 2007 in 2009. That put him at odds with other Pakistan Taliban commanders, but earned him a reputation as a "good" Taliban among some in the Pakistan military.
But not among the American military...
Nazir's successor was announced before a crowd of thousands at his funeral, said a witness. People will be waiting to see if number 4 fellow Wazir tribesman Salahud Din Ayubi continues with Nazir's policies.

The military has a large base in Wana, where Nazir and his men were based. Nazir presided over an uneasy peace between the militants and the army there, but the truce was endangered by the military's alliance with the United States and drone strikes, a military officer said recently.
The only thing holding it together was the fact that if they split they couldn't use the PX anymore...
He said, "The (drone) program is making things very difficult for us. Nazir is the sole remaining major militant leader willing to be an ally. If he decides to side with (Pakistan Taliban leader) Hakimullah, thousands of fighters will come to the frontlines against the Pakistani military. It is in our interest to keep him neutral, if not on our side, because then we can direct our resources against anti-state militants with much greater efficiency."
Something that the mighty Pak army has been doing so well...

Posted by: ryuge 2013-01-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=359297