Al-Qaeda trying to find a new Terrorist Chief in Pakistan, says Rehman.

ISLAMABAD, August 10, 2009 (Frontier Star): Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Monday underlined that Al-Qaeda is trying to find a new Terrorist Chief in Pakistan following the killing of TTP Chief Baitullah Mehsud, few days back in a missile attack. Al-Qaeda is trying to install a new chief terrorist in Pakistans tribal regions after the claimed killing of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, Interior Minister Rehman Malik expressed these views in an Exclusive Interview to BBC Radio on Monday. Malik told that the Taliban were in disarray and fleeing the area following the killing of their commander in Pakistan and hoped the border regions would now open up to greater development. All the credible intelligence which I have from that is to finally confirm it, the minister said, when asked if Mehsud was dead following the US drone missile attack Wednesday in South Waziristan. The information which has come since three days suggests that most of these militants are running away from that area, he said. The other thing which is a bit worrying is that Al-Qaeda is getting grouped in the same place and now they are trying to find out somebody to install him as the leader, as the chief terrorist in that area. Pakistani analysts say Mehsuds purported killing will put renewed pressure on the government to clampdown on militants holed up in the tribal belt and assert more control over the terrain. In the meantime, hundreds of fighters are believed to have fled Afghanistan into Pakistans semi-autonomous tribal areas to carve out safe havens after the US-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime in Kabul in late 2001.

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