On Ground Updates: Afghanistan/Pakistan - August 08, 2009

On Ground Updates:
Afghanistan/Pakistan
Unconfirmed reports say Two Taliban Commanders positioning themselves as successors to Beithullah Mehsud were killed in Gunfight today
(Say it isn’t so!!!)
Saturday, August 08, 2009
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* Zeeshan Haider has the following report posted up on the Reuters website this Saturday afternoon and it starts off like this… The Pakistani government has received reports that shooting broke out between two rivals for the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban, and one of them may have been killed, the interior minister said on Saturday… Pakistani news channels were carrying unconfirmed reports that Hakimullah Mehsud, one of the movement's most powerful commanders, had been killed at a shura, or council meeting, held to decide who would succeed slain leader Baitullah Mehsud… "The infighting was between Wali-ur-Rehman and Hakimullah Mehsud," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Reuters. "We have information that one of them has been killed. Who was killed we will be able to say later after confirming."…
Read the full report at link below…
Fighting erupts between Taliban rivals-Pakistan govt
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* The Hindu website has the following report…
Pakistani Taliban meet turns deadly
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* SANANews.com.pk reports it this way… Two influential Taliban commanders were killed in armed clash erupted in two groups of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) when key leaders gathered to choose successor of Taliban supremo Baitullah Mehsud on Saturday… According to private TV, a meeting of five key Taliban leaders was underway at an area between South and North Waziristan Agency when Taliban commanders disputed each other and exchanged hot words over the issue of choosing Baitullah Mehsud’s successor after his mysterious death… As a result Commander Wali Ur Rehman opened fire on Hakeemullah Mehsud leaving him dead on the spot. In the clash Wali Ur Rehman was also killed by his rivals…
Read the full report at link below…
Hakeemullah, Wali Ur Rehman killed in exchange of firing
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* AP had this report up late Saturday… Senior Taliban commanders denied that their leader, Baitullah Mehsud, had been killed in a CIA missile strike, while conflicting reports emerged late Saturday of a clash between rival Taliban factions during a meeting to choose a successor…
Read this report at link below…
Taliban leader's death disputed, shootout claimed

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This kind of stuff just doesn’t happen in real life… Does it!!!?
AubreyJ………