PAKISTAN:

2 top Taliban commanders possibly among the dead, officials say

Nine killed by U.S. drones.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Suspected American drones fired several missiles into three militant hide- outs near the Afghan border Sunday, killing nine Pakistani Taliban fighters, intelligence officials said.

The strikes targeted the group’s hide- outs in the South Waziristan tribal region, the three officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The identities of the killed militants were not immediately known, they said, but two important commanders of the Pakistani Taliban — including the head of a training unit for suicide bombers — may be among them.

Sunday’s drone attack was the third suspected U. S. drone strike in five days. One such strike late Wednesday killed a top Pakistani militant commander, Maulvi Nazir, accused of carrying out deadly attacks against American and other targets across the border in Afghanistan. That attack was followed by another Thursday in the North Waziristan tribal area.

Islamabad opposes the use of U. S. drones on its territory, but is thought to have tacitly approved some strikes in past. The drone campaign also infuriates many Pakistanis, who see them as a violation of their country’s sovereignty. They complain that innocent civilians also have been killed, something the U.S. rejects.

But an attack like Sunday’s may be less likely to anger the Pakistani military and public because it targeted militants thought to have been going after targets in Pakistan and not in neighboring Afghanistan.

The Pakistani intelligence officials said informants had told them one of the two dead commanders was Wali Muhammad Mahsud, also known as Toofan, who headed a wing of the group that trained suicide bombers. His predecessor, Qari Husain Mehsud, was thought to have been killed in a U.S. missile strike in late 2011.

Mahsud was part of the Pakistani Taliban that have waged a bloody war against the Pakistani state by targeting army, police, government officials, civilians and even religious leaders who wouldn’t agree to their interpretation of Islam. The Pakistani Taliban demand that the state should sever ties with the U.S. and amend the constitution to enforce a Sharia-based Islamic system in the country.

In December, a Taliban suicide bomber killed a top government minister, Bashir Ahmad Bilour, who came from an anti-militant political party in northwest Pakistan, and abducted and beheaded several Pakistani paramilitary troops and tribal police.

The militant commander, Nazir, who was killed last Wednesday was also part of the Taliban but he led a faction that agreed to a cease-fire with the Pakistani military in 2009 and did not attack domestic targets.

While Nazir’s death is likely to be seen in Washington as affirmation of the necessity of its drone program, it could cause more friction in already tense relations with Pakistan.

Analysts say Nazir’s killing is likely to complicate the Pakistani army’s fight against the local and foreign al- Qaida linked militants holed up in the country’s tribal region. They say his fighters may turn their guns toward Pakistani troops and join the Pakistani Taliban’s fight against the state.

Still, Nazir angered many Pakistanis in June when he announced that he would not allow any polio vaccinations in territory under his control until the U. S. stops drone attacks in the region.

Washington wants Pakistan to launch a military operation in North Waziristan, thought to be the last stronghold of many of the militant groups. But Islamabad has been refusing, saying it does not have enough troops and resources to do that.

In absence of such an operation, the U.S. relies more on drone strikes to take out militants. The program has killed a number of top militant commanders, including Abu Yahya al-Libi, who was al- Qaida’s No. 2 when he was killed in a June strike.