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Source: Reuters -
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One of Osama bin Laden's sons was probably killed by a US
missile strike in Pakistan earlier this year, US National Public
Radio reported, citing US intelligence sources.
A US counterterrorism official told Reuters that on Friday that
Sa'ad bin Laden may be dead, "but it's not 100 percent certain." He
described the son of the al Qaeda leader as "a small player with a
big name."
It was unknown whether Sa'ad bin Laden, who was in his twenties,
was anywhere near his father when he died, NPR said.
A US intelligence official said in January that the younger bin
Laden had been freed from custody in Iran and had probably gone to
Pakistan.
"There have been reports (of his death), but none of them has been
confirmed or verified," a senior Pakistani security official told
Reuters.
The United States believes Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan.
Intelligence agencies have had near misses tracking his deputy
Ayman al Zawahri in Pakistan, but the hunt for bin Laden went cold
several years ago.
While al Qaeda often releases audiotaped messages from bin Laden,
the last videotape released was two years ago, and there is
constant speculation that he might have died.
Taliban commander alive and unharmed
The difficulties of confirming kills of al Qaeda and Taliban
leaders in the badlands of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was
underlined by a surprise telephone call to Reuters from a spokesman
for the Taliban in the Swat valley, where the army launched an
offensive almost three months ago.
The Pakistani military said earlier this month that an air strike
had probably wounded commander Fazlullah, but his spokesman Muslim
Khan
said his leader was alive and unhurt
.
"All of the Taliban leadership is okay," the spokesman, Muslim
Khan said before playing what he said was an audio recording of
Fazlullah's recorded on Thursday.
"Pakistani rulers and generals have carried out suppression on
Pashtuns and the people of Malakand division (of North West
Frontier Province) to please the United States," Fazlullah said,
though it was not possible to verify the authenticity.
US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke
told journalists in Islamabad the Pakistan army's priority was
securing the Swat and Buner valleys, to make them safe for some 2.5
million people to go home.
The United Nations said almost 400,000 people had returned, which
Holbrooke said was "good news" before cautioning that they needed
security.
"Northern Swat is still insecure and the leadership, like
Fazlullah, has not been captured, so there's a long way to go," the
envoy said at the end of two days of meetings with the Pakistani
political and military leadership.
Mehsud next
Holbrooke said this was the likely reason why the army was delaying
an all-out assault further west against the stronghold of Pakistani
Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud in the remote South Waziristan
tribal region.
"They've got to make sure when the refugees come back that they
have security, so maybe they're delaying the offensive," he said,
adding that he did not know the timing or nature of the looming
action against Mehsud.
Although Mehsud has helped provide fighters for the Taliban
insurgency in Afghanistan, and trained suicide bombers to attack
Afghan and Western forces, most of his focus has been on attacking
the Pakistani state.
The United States has put a $US5 million bounty on Mehsud, who has
been blamed for the
assassination
of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto in
2007
.
"I think Baitullah Mehsud is one of the most dangerous and odious
people in the region and the United States had paid insufficient
attention to him until recently," he said.
Although Pakistan is focused on its own enemies first, Holbrooke
stressed the increasingly tight cooperation between the Pakistani
and US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has moved forces to Baluchistan to patrol the southwest
province's border with Helmand, the southern Afghan province where
US forces began an operation against the Taliban earlier this
month.
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