Friday, August 7, 2009

Pakistan to be safer if Mehsud killed: US





WASHINGTON: The White House on Friday said that Pakistan would be safer if Taliban commander was killed.

The White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, however, said, ‘there seems to be a growing consensus among credible observers that he is indeed dead.’

Mr Gibbs added that Mehsud killed scores of innocent men, women and children and was suspected of being behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan.

‘If he is dead, without a doubt, the people of Pakistan will be safer as a result.’

President Barack Obama was being regularly updated on the situation in Islamabad, officials said. Mehsud was probably dead but they were awaiting 100 per cent confirmation to verify reports of his death.

At the State Department, spokesman Robert Wood also said the United States and its allies were engaged in a ‘long-term struggle against violent extremism.’

Asked at the regular briefing, how important Mehsud was considered in the fight against Al Qaeda and Taliban in the region, Mr Wood said: ‘Mehsud has been responsible for a number of atrocious terrorist attacks against people from around the world, frankly.’

‘And we will continue to work with other countries around the world to fight the scourge of terrorism.’

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