Mansoor Dadullah was clinging to life after Pakistani commandos attacked his hideout in a remote tribal area close to the Afghan border. [H]e was allegedly sacked by the extremists' spiritual leader, Mullah Omar, for negotiating with MI6. He was also blamed for losing Musa Qala, a Taleban stronghold in Helmand, which fell to British and Afghan troops last year.
| Definitely on the poop list. |
Pakistani officials admitted they received an intelligence tip-off ahead of the raid.
[Ring! Ring!]
"Hello?... Yeah... Hang on... Chief! Dis guy sez he wantsa talk to youse!"
"Who is it?"
"Sez his name's Mahmoud da Weasel!"
"I'll take it in my office!" |
The local police chief, Saud Gohar, said: "We had reports of his presence from intelligence sources. He was hiding in a house in the village."
"Well, really, we can't do nuttin', cuz we ain't got precise information on his location..."
"606 Back Alley of the Veiled Pleasure Boy, Apartment C!" |
It is thought Mansoor may have been double-crossed as part of a deal between the hardline "neo" Taleban in Pakistan, and local security forces.
| Or thrown to the dogs by Mullah Omar, who had somebody a little more competent and a little less greedy in mind." |
It comes less than a fortnight after a senior al-Qaeda commander, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed by an American rocket attack in Pakistan's northern Waziristan province. Terrorism analysts believe Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI, may have passed the United States details of Libi's whereabouts to relieve US pressure on Islamabad over insurgent activity.
| Really? They'd do something underhanded like that? |
Pakistan denies international claims its border is a safe haven for religious extremists, who use it to launch attacks against Nato troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.
But the operation against Mansoor came a day after Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, warned that sanctuaries in the tribal areas pose a direct threat to Islamabad.
"They do? Chaudry, shouldn't we do something?"
"I'd think so, Perv. Why don't we shoot Mansour Dadullah?"
"Good idea!" |
A spokesman for Pakistan's army claimed Mansoor was seized as he sneaked across the border from Afghanistan.
| "Yeah. We don't let riff-raff like that in our country!" |
Major- General Athar Abbas said Mansoor refused to stop at a checkpoint.
| [BANG!] "Halt or we'll [BANG! BANG!] shoot!" |
He said: "Security personnel returned fire. As a result, all of them were ventilated sustained injuries and all of them were captured. Dadullah (Mansoor] was arrested alive, but he is critically wounded."
| "He's not quite dead, Jim!" |
Mansoor said in a phone interview in January that he remained a Taleban commander and had asked Mullah Omar, to dispel "rumours" of his dismissal. He also claimed that he had met with al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, a few months ago. He said Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters in Helmand were fighting alongside each other and sharing tactics.
| That accounts for the dead Paks and Arabs and Uzbeks, doesn't it? |
The arrests coincided with a rare announcement from Mullah Omar. In a statement, published in the Afghan Islamic Press, he said: "We want legitimate relations with countries of the world and we are not a threat to anyone. If foreign troops leave Afghanistan, that will be a victory for the people of Afghanistan." |