Daily brief: Militant leader reported killed in drone strike

Death from above

Key Pakistani militant commander Ilyas Kashmiri was reported killed in a drone strike in Laman, near Wana, South Waziristan, Friday night, as he was said to be taking tea with up to eight others in an apple orchard (NYT, LAT, WSJ, AP, BBC, ET, Dawn, DT,  TIME, McClatchy, Tel, CNN, AFP). Kashmiri led the "313 brigade" of the group Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI), and was considered the operational chief of al-Qaeda in Pakistan (AP, ET). He has been suspected in several major terrorist attacks and plots in Pakistan, Europe and the United States, and the Express Tribune reports that Kashmiri convened a meeting of militants last week to discuss attacks to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden (ET). Kashmiri was mistakenly declared dead in a September, 2009 drone strike, but Pakistani officials say they are almost certain that he died in the attack, and a man claiming to be a spokesman for HuJI faxed a handwritten statement Saturday to several news organizations saying Kashmiri had been "martyred," and declaring, "America is our enemy" (Reuters, AP, ET). A spokesman for the group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) denied Kashmiri’s death in a separate statement (Dawn).

Pakistani intelligence officials indicated that Kashmiri, who carried a $5 million U.S. price tag on his head, had recently moved to South Waziristan from Khyber-Puktunkhwa, and that Pakistan provided intelligence that helped track him down (ET, Dawn). The Journal reports that the CIA’s increased drone campaign has caused splits within the Obama administration, as some diplomatic and military leaders want to curtail the program (WSJ). Three additional drone attacks struck two compounds in the South Waziristan villages of Shalam Raghzai and Wacha Dana, as well as a vehicle near the border of North and South Waziristan this morning, killing up to 21 militants, though some reports indicate up to seven of those killed were civilians (CNN, BBC, Reuters, AFP, ET, Geo).

Mark Mazzetti looks at possible splits in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, while the AP writes that Pakistan has been in "turmoil" since the May 2 raid that killed bin Laden (NYT, AP).

Unending

Over 24 people have been killed in two separate bombings this weekend in Pakistan’s Khyber-Puktunkhwa province, killing six at a bus stand near Peshawar and at least 18 at an army-run bakery in Nowshera (AFP, ET, AJE, Reuters, BBC, AP, CNN, ET). No group has claimed credit for the first bombing, though a TTP spokesman said his group planted a remote-detonated bomb in the bakery, disputing police claims that the bombing was carried out by a teenaged suicide bomber (AFP, Dawn, ET, BBC).

Pakistan’s army battled Afghanistan-based militants in Upper Dir for the fourth day in a row this weekend, reportedly killing 26 and prompting Khyber-Puktunkhwa’s government to urge NATO and the Afghan government to curb cross-border infiltration (AP, DT, ET, Dawn). The BBC reports from Pakistan’s tribal areas on the army’s hesitancy to move against militants based in North Waziristan, even as anti-militant operations continue elsewhere (BBC).

Elsewhere, Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik on Saturday announced the imminent formation of an investigation into the death of journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, to be headed by a current Supreme Court justice (ET). Malik said separately this weekend that the security situation in the province of Baluchistan is improving, adding that the Taliban "do not exist in Quetta," the province’s capital city (Dawn). Pakistani authorities arrested eight people this weekend in an alleged plot to kill Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari (Dawn). Also, an investigation continues into the killing of five foreigners at a checkpoint just outside of Quetta (ET).

Finally this weekend, Pakistan’s finance minister Hafeez Shaikh announced that Pakistan would seek to widen its tax base in order to make up for budget shortfalls, as his proposed budget came under fire from Pakistan’s parliament (AP). And the charity Oxfam announced an investigation into "irregularities" in its relief program for the devastating floods that struck Pakistan last year (BBC, Dawn, Tel, AFP).

Saying goodbye

U.S. defense secretary Robert Gates made an emotional farewell journey to Afghanistan this weekend, and told troops at bases in the country’s south that the withdrawal form Afghanistan would be "gradual," with relatively small-scale removal of forces starting next month (Post, LAT, BBC, CNN, Reuters, WSJ, AFP, ABC). The Times reports that some advisers to President Barack Obama are pushing for more significant troop withdrawals from Afghanistan due to the war’s rising costs and the death of Osama bin Laden, suggestions that spark concern about a rapid pullout from Afghan officials (NYT, AFP, NYT).

In a press conference with Afghan president Hamid Karzai this weekend, Gates also raised the possibility of reconciliation talks with the Taliban, as reports indicate that U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Amb. Marc Grossman has reached out to at least three different insurgent groups (Reuters, AP, Tel, VOA). And the U.N. Al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee will meet June 16 to discuss the removal of up to 40 former Taliban officials from its list (NYT, BBC, WSJ).

Pajhwok reports that top commander of international forces Gen. David Petraeus this weekend promised Afghan officials an end to controversial nighttime attacks against civilian compounds, and Yaroslav Trofimov reports that efforts to clear Taliban from outlying districts of Kandahar City have pushed insurgents into the city itself (Pajhwok, WSJ). Stephen Grey has a must-read in the Sunday Times on the increasing number of Special Forces operations to kill or capture insurgent in Afghanistan (Times). And Jason Burke reports on the robust growth in security and business in Kabul, improvements that many fear will depart with international forces when they leave Afghanistan (Guardian).

Rounding out the news this weekend, two Afghan soldiers were killed and five kidnapped during a Taliban raid on a checkpoint in the southern province of Nimroz (AP, AFP). a reported suicide bombing killed two bank guards in the Afghan province of Wardak (Pajhwok). And in Khost province a helicopter crash killed two NATO servicemembers (NYT, Reuters, CNN, AP, LAT).

Jingle all the way

The Daily Times reports on an ongoing festival in Islamabad celebrating artisans known for truck art, the highly detailed and colorful designs that grace many commercial trucks in Pakistan (DT). The vehicles, often adorned with bells, are known as "jingle trucks."

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