Badruddin, son of movement founder Jalaluddin Haqqani, was targeted in an August 24 raid. He was a commander in the field and with his family members led the group affiliated with al Qaeda. In one week, more than a hundred killed, including civilians, in clashes between militants and the army.

Islamabad (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Pakistan's intelligence sources have confirmed the death of the son of the founder of the Islamist fighter Haqqani network, one of the most feared and powerful Taliban extremist. Badruddin, the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, was killed on August 24 last (but the official confirmation only came yesterday), during an attack by U.S. drones in the valley of Shawal, in the tribal area of ​​North Waziristan, on the border with Afghanistan . He was the movement's field commander and had important operational tasks such as liaising with affiliates.

The presence of the Haqqani terrorist group, comprising a majority of the Afghan Taliban and close to al Qaeda, is one of the main points of dispute between Islamabad and Washington because - according to the United States - it is given too much freedom of movement in the tribal areas under the - theoretical - control of the Government of Pakistan. Deadly attacks on American units or the international force in Afghanistan are unleashed from these areas.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban rejected reports of Badruddin Haqqani's death caliming it was "enemy propaganda." The son of the leader was considered a key target for the U.S. government, along with his father and brothers, he is considered among the most dangerous terrorists in the area. He was also responsible for the kidnapping in 2008 of the New York Times reporter David Rohde.

Also yesterday, the Pakistani security forces arrested the founder of one of the fiercest anti-Shiite militant groups in the country, the Laskhar-e-Jangvi, for a series of talks aimed at inciting racially motivated religious hatred. Police arrested Malik Ishaq in Lahore, while returning from a religious pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. The movement has ties to al Qaeda and the Taliban and is accused of numerous attacks against the Shiite minority, considered "infidel" by Sunni fundamentalists.

Meanwhile, clashes continued for the seventh consecutive day between security forces and Taliban - from Afghanistan - responsible for violence in north-west Pakistan. So far 73 Islamic militants have been killed, 14 rebels, 10 soldiers and 11 civilians, including six women and four children.

 

 

• Pakistan
• United
• States
• islamic
• extremists
• taliban
• al
• qaeda
• drone
• attack