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Taliban leader's wife killed in US strike

^AP. Dera Ismail Khan
Pakistani officials said yesterday that a US missile strike in northwestern Pakistan had killed .a wife of top Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.
Mehsud's associates would not confirm the report, although they did say a woman was killed in the missile strike in South Waziristan, part of the lawless tribal region along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan and where Taliban and al-Qaida leaders are believed to be hiding.
l\vo intelligence officials and one army official, who all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the strike had destroyed the homeof Mehsud's father-in-law. Akramud Din. and that two people had been killed, including one of Mehsud's two wives. Under Islam, men are allowed to have up to four wives.
One of the intelligence officials said agents were trying to get details about the second person who died.
The US Embassy had no comment. Washington generally does not acknowledge being responsible for such strikes.
One of Mehsud's associates, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensi-tivity of the issue, said Mehsud was not in the
house at the time.
Mehsud is the head of the Tehrik-e-Taliban militant group, and he has been suspected in the past of involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in Islamabad in December 2007. He has denied being responsible.
He is also accused of organizing dozens of other suicide attacks in Pakistan.
If confirmed, the death of Mehsud's wife indicates authorities are closing in on the noto rious Pakistani Taliban leader.
“1 think they seem to have good intelligence; there is no doubt about it." said political analyst and retired Pakistani army Lt Gen Talat Masood. "They are closing in, and they are keeping the pressure on these people."
Pakistan's air force and the military have carried out several attacks targeting Mehsud, and the army has said it is preparing for a major offensive against Mehsud and his network in the tribal region.
But the offensive has not come, despite it being announced weeks ago.
Masood said it was likely the military wanted to concentrate on clearing up militants still active in and around the Swat Valley in northern Pakistan despite a three-month offensive there against theTaliban.