*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) PESHAWAR, Pakistan - September 3, 2009: Pakistani security forces have alleged that the new leader of Tehrik-e-
Taliban Pakistan (TTP) insurgent group, Hakimullah Mehsud, died soon after the death of his brother and former commander. Citing intelligence sources, unofficial intermediaries said that the interview given to the BBC some days ago had actually been the voice of Hakimullah's brother and not that of the top militant commander, according to the September 1 issue of the mass-circulation English-language daily, the Dawn. (Image of Hakimullah Mehsud ~ 'New Pakistani pro-Taliban chief also dead')
Taliban Pakistan (TTP) insurgent group, Hakimullah Mehsud, died soon after the death of his brother and former commander. Citing intelligence sources, unofficial intermediaries said that the interview given to the BBC some days ago had actually been the voice of Hakimullah's brother and not that of the top militant commander, according to the September 1 issue of the mass-circulation English-language daily, the Dawn. (Image of Hakimullah Mehsud ~ 'New Pakistani pro-Taliban chief also dead')The report noted that the motive behind concealing the news of Hakimullah's death was to save the image of the outlawed Pakistani pro-Taliban faction by creating the impression that he is alive.
Pakistani news channels reported on August 8 that Hakimullah Mehsud was killed after shooting erupted between his camp and that of Wali-ur-Rehman during a shura (local council) to determine the successor to the slain Baitullah Mehsud.
Two days later, however, a man claiming to be Hakimullah Mehsud called a Reuters reporter declaring that he and Baitullah were still alive. 
A paramilitary soldier inspects burnt vehicles along the Chaman Pakistan-Afghanistan border August 31, 2009. Suspected Taliban militants set fire to 18 container trucks carrying supplies for Western forces in neighboring Afghanistan in the Pakistani border town of Chaman, police said on Monday. Some 300 trucks were parked near the border crossing in the country's southwest, as the border had been closed by Pakistani authorities since Friday in a row with their Afghan counterparts over the checking of trucks coming from landlocked Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials nonetheless conducted voice analysis and stated that intercepted phone calls led to the conclusion that Hakimullah was dead. Pakistani intelligence officials believe that the younger brother of the 28-year-old commander returned from fighting in war-stricken Afghanistan in a bid to assume the elder brother's identity.
This would assist him to take command of the extremist Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan on a temporary basis until a decision is made by Taliban leader Mullah Omar regarding the appointment of a new chief.
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