ISLAMABAD, 19 June 2004 — Pakistan killed rebel tribal leader and former Taleban commander Nek Mohammad in a targeted strike on Thursday night near the Afghan border. Six other people also died in the missile strike.
“We were tracking him down and he was killed last night by our forces,” Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said here.
The army got its break late Thursday when a satellite phone intercept tracked Nek to the home of another tribal leader in South Waziristan, according to a security officer.
It was not clear if the United States was involved in the phone intercept, though Pakistan is thought to lack the sophisticated satellite technology necessary for such intelligence work, and acknowledges that it sometimes receives “technical help” from the Americans.
Sultan would not say how Nek was found, but he said Pakistani forces were the ones who killed Nek. He said local reports that an unmanned US aircraft may have fired the missile were “absurd.”
Nek granted two phone interviews with a Pakistan-based reporter for the British Broadcasting Corp. this week, but it was not clear whether authorities used either of those calls to track him down.
In one of the interviews, Nek vowed to overthrow both the Pakistani and Afghan governments and rejected dialogue. “We want to eradicate the US-installed puppet governments in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Once we overthrow them, then there will be peace and no one will be able to harm Muslims,” he said.
The security officer said at least two of those killed along with Nek were foreigners, but they did not appear to be senior Al-Qaeda leaders. Another intelligence officer said Nek and the others were killed when a laser-guided missile struck the compound. “It was a laser-guided missile that struck the target,” the officer said.
He said Nek was in the house of Sher Zaman whose two sons were also killed.
“Nobody knows from where the missile came. We heard a whistling sound, and then the house where he was staying was hit,” tribesman Nazar Wazir said.
Thousands of tribesmen gathered yesterday morning to view Nek’s body at his home village in Kaloosha, some 10 km from the tribal compound where the long-haired fighter was killed. He was later buried.
Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told lawmakers in the National Assembly that the killing of Nek was a “major success.”
“We are confident that this killing of Nek Mohammed will help the ongoing operation in South Waziristan, and counter the threat of terrorism in other parts of the country,” he said. “Operations will continue until the last terrorist is eliminated,” Hayat told the assembly.
About 70 foreign militants have been killed in South Waziristan since June 9, when the army launched the latest offensive against them, he said.
