Drone strike kills Ilyas Kashmiri

LADHA: Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, the commander of Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami (HuJI), who was believed to have masterminded the attack on the naval base in Karachi, was killed in a US drone attack near Wana, South Waziristan, on Friday night, officials said.

Shoaib Khan, a political agent, confirmed that Kashmiri had died in the strike at a militant compound in Ghwa Khwa area. An official said Ilyas Kashmiri had been seen in South Waziristan a couple of days ago.

“Kashmiri was killed in the late night attack,” Mr Khan told journalists on Saturday. A statement, purportedly distributed by HuJI in Wana on Saturday afternoon, confirmed the killing of its supremo with eight other militants in the drone attack. Washington had put a bounty of $5 million on his head under a “reward for justice” programme.

“Commander Ilyas Kashmiri has been killed along with his companions,” the one-page statement said. The group held Washington responsible for his assassination and warned that they would avenge his killing. “America is our main target,” it said. Lala Wazir, a spokesman for the influential militant commander Mullah Nazir in South Waziristan, also came up with a statement verifying the death of Ilyas Kashmiri.

Kashmiri was mistakenly pronounced dead in a US drone strike in North Waziristan in September 2009, but just one month later his interview was conducted by Saleem Shehzad, whose body was found near Islamabad five days ago.

Sources said the US drone fired three missiles at a compound in Ghwa Khwa, 20km south of Wana, at around 11pm on Friday. The compound belonged to a tribesman, Mir Ajam Khan Tozikhel who is an associate of the Mullah Nazir group.

The missiles hit two rooms in the compound. The sources said that nine people, most of them hailing from Punjab, were killed. Political authorities said five of the dead had been identified as Usman, Ibrahim, Farooq, Amir Hamza and Imran.

Amir Hamza was stated to be a close associate of Mullah Nazir. Alamgir, a tribesman who hails from Ghwa Khwa, said militants had encircled the area and did not allow local people to take part in rescue work. He said all the dead were buried in the nearby Karikot.

“Taliban said that Ilyas Kashmiri has also been killed in the late night missile attack,” he said, quoting unnamed militants. Sources said that Kashmiri had recently visited North Waziristan. They said the HuJI commander had close contacts with local militants, including Mullah Nazir.

The Dawn