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Leader in Insurgent Network Is Killed in Pakistan Haqqani Militant Leader Is Killed in Pakistan
(about 4 hours later)
LONDON — A senior leader of the Haqqani network, one of the most lethal elements of the insurgency in Afghanistan, has been killed on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, Pakistani militants and Afghan intelligence officials said on Monday. LONDON — A senior leader of the feared Haqqani militant network was shot dead on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistani militants and Afghan intelligence officials said on Monday, in the latest setback for the close-knit cluster of militant groups that shelter in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region.
Nasiruddin Haqqani, a son of the Afghan warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani and the group’s chief fund-raiser, was shot dead by a gunman riding a motorbike outside a bread store on Sunday night, the militants said. The leader, Nasiruddin Haqqani — a son of the militant group’s founder, the Afghan warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani — was gunned down outside a bread store by a man riding a motorcycle on Sunday night, witnesses told Pakistani media outlets.
In telephone interviews from Peshawar and the tribal belt, two Haqqani network commanders confirmed that Nasiruddin, who was designated by the United States as a “global terrorist” in 2010, had been killed. Intelligence officials believe he was the chief fund-raiser for the Haqqani network, one of the most lethal elements of the insurgency in Afghanistan, and he was designated as a “global terrorist” by the United States in 2010. Two commanders for the group confirmed his death on Monday.
“We have received his body, and the funeral has taken place,” said Gul Hassan, a commander in North Waziristan, the main hub of Haqqani network activity in Pakistan’s tribal belt. “We have received his body, and the funeral has taken place,” said one of the commanders, Gul Hassan, who spoke by phone from North Waziristan, the main hub of the Haqqani group in Pakistan. “The mujahedeen are in shock.”
“The mujahedeen are in shock,” said Mr. Gul, describing the dead militant as “a devoted brother who had been doing jihad against the crusaders.” The attack comes at a turbulent time within the nest of militant groups based in northwestern Pakistan, including Al Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban and the Haqqani network.
A Pakistani intelligence official, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity, said that after funeral prayers in Miram Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, Mr. Haqqani was buried in the family graveyard at Danday Darpa Khel — the same village where Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, was killed in an American drone strike on Nov. 1. It started in early October, when American forces detained Latif Mehsud, a senior commander for the Pakistani Taliban, inside Afghanistan. Weeks later, a C.I.A. drone strike killed the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, and one of his top deputies. Now, Mr. Haqqani, a looming figure in a militant network closely allied to the Taliban, is dead.
It is unclear whether the two events are linked. An Afghan intelligence official, speaking in Kabul, said that preliminary intelligence assessments showed that Mr. Haqqani died as a result of a family dispute. It was unclear whether Mr. Haqqani’s killing was linked to those recent Pakistani Taliban losses, and there were conflicting views about who was behind the hit. Some officials in Afghanistan said Monday that they believed the killing may have come because of an internal dispute within the group or even the immediate Haqqani family. But in Pakistani intelligence circles, speculation was rife that Afghan intelligence was behind the killing of Mr. Haqqani, a native Afghan whose group has been focused on striking the Afghan government and Western military presence.
A tribal leader in the eastern Afghan province of Khost, which is the main stronghold of the Haqqani tribe, noted that Nasiruddin Haqqani had a long-running financial dispute with a cousin, Ishaq, whom he had accused of working with Afghan intelligence officials. In any case, the fact that he was killed on the very edge of the Pakistani capital is likely to discomfit the Pakistani government and military, which have long faced accusations that they allow the Haqqanis and other militant groups near-complete freedom of movement within the whole country.
The fact that Mr. Haqqani was killed on the edge of the Pakistani capital was a major embarrassment to the Pakistani government, underscoring long-held accusations that the Haqqani network operates with ease inside the country, and not just inside the tribal belt. Another Haqqani network commander, speaking on condition of anonymity from Peshawar, claimed that militants had mourned Mr. Haqqani at a prayer service right under the nose of the Pakistani military — at a secret spot in the military garrison city of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. The commander said that Mr. Haqqani’s body was then sent back to the tribal belt for burial.
“Another Abottabad? Massive Embarrassment,” Talat Hussain, a senior television journalist, said on Twitter, referring to the embarrassment caused by the American commando assault that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, near Islamabad, in May 2011. “Another Abottabad? Massive Embarrassment,” Talat Hussain, a senior Pakistani television journalist, said on Twitter, referring to the embarrassment caused by the American commando assault that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, near Islamabad, in May 2011.
The Haqqani network is one of the most prominent elements of the Afghan insurgency, with a track record of well-organized and ruthless operations on high-profile targets in Afghanistan’s major cities. American and Afghan officials have for years accused Pakistani intelligence of aiding, or at least turning a blind eye to, the Haqqani network as part of a strategy to maintain influence in Afghanistan, and to attack Indian diplomatic facilities in the country.
Over the years, it has launched coordinated assaults on government ministries and five-star hotels in central Kabul, American bases near the border with Pakistan, and Indian diplomatic facilities across the country. Pakistani officials deny any collusion with the group but admit they keep in contact with its commanders as part of intelligence operations. Nasiruddin Haqqani, who shuttled between the tribal belt and the Islamabad area, was sometimes described as the group’s liaison with the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agence.
Fund-raising is crucial to the group’s success, thanks to links to drug smuggling, kidnapping and gun running, as well as links to rich jihadi donors in the Persian Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia. American interest in the Haqqani network stems from its record of ruthless, well-organized attacks against high-profile targets in Afghanistan’s major cities. The group pledges allegiance to the Afghan Taliban but operates with a high degree of autonomy, and over the years has launched coordinated assaults on government ministries, five-star hotels and the United States Embassy in central Kabul, American bases near the border with Pakistan, and Indian diplomatic facilities across the country.
Those links stretch back to the 1980s, when Jalaluddin Haqqani was both an ally of the United States and widely viewed as a heroic Islamic warrior among conservative Muslims. His son Nasiruddin, whose mother is an Arab, a NATO official said, was seen as the best-placed person to exploit those fund-raising links. Fund-raising is also crucial to the group’s success, thanks to its involvement in drug smuggling, kidnapping and gun running, as well as decades-old links to rich jihadi donors in the Persian Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia.
In recent years, Jalaluddin Haqqani is believed to have grown ill, and leadership of the group passed to another son, Sirajuddin. His third son, Badruddin, was killed in an American drone strike in North Waziristan in August 2012. Experts say that Nasiruddin Haqqani, whose mother is Arab and who spoke Arabic, was seen as the best-placed person to exploit those fund-raising links, and to run legitimate business interests in parts of the Persian Gulf that have also funded militant activity. American, German and British officials considered him to be the key link between the network and legitimate businesses run in Dubai that earn money for the network.
Despite its fierce reputation, the group has come under strain this year amid reports of discontent and even resentment inside its tribal support base in the mountains of Paktika and Khost Provinces in eastern Afghanistan. The Haqqani network began as a mujaheddin group fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and 90s. Back then, its leader, Mr. Haqqani’s father, Jalaluddin, was a towering figure of the resistance, and he was was both a cherished ally of the United States and a hero figure in the Persian Gulf states, where he would conduct fundraising tours of mosques.
Mr. Haqqani’s death will renew the focus on the ease with which the Haqqani network can operate inside Pakistan. The shooting occurred in Bhara Kahu, a village on the edge of Islamabad that has long been known for its links to violent jihadi groups. In recent years, as the group turned its sights toward driving the American military out of the country and as Jalaluddin Haqqani grew elderly and inform, leadership of the group passed to his son, Sirajuddin. Most of the group’s leadership moved to the Pakistani tribal belt, nominally out of reach of the American military offensives targeting the network next door in eastern Afghanistan.
But the American C.I.A. drone program continued to take a toll. Another Haqqani son, Badruddin, was killed in a drone strike in North Waziristan in August 2012.
On Monday, a Pakistani intelligence official, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity, said that Nasruddin Haqqani was buried in the same graveyard as his brother, in Danday Darpa Khel — — the same village where Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, was killed in a drone strike on Nov. 1.
Some Afghan officials said they thought it was family politics, in the end, that brought Nasiruddin Haqqani down. One Afghan intelligence official in Kabul said he had been killed as a result of a “family dispute.” And a tribal leader in the eastern Afghan province of Khost, the main stronghold of the Haqqani family’s tribe, said that Mr. Haqqani had had a long-running financial dispute with a cousin, Ishaq, whom he had accused of working with Afghan intelligence officials.
Further, the Haqqani network has reportedly come under added internal strain, with accounts of discontent and even resentment within its tribal support base in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Much of the bad feeling is said to be driven by distrust of the Pakistani military and intelligence services that have sheltered the Haqqanis within Pakistan.
Now, Mr. Haqqani’s death is likely to bring renewed questions about the group’s scope of operations within Pakistan.
Counterterrorism and intelligence experts say that the Haqqanis maintain several houses in major Pakistani cities, and has both legitimate and criminal business interests in the country. The attack that killed Mr. Haqqani occurred in Bhara Kahu, a village on the edge of Islamabad that has long been known for its links to jihadi groups.
In August, the Islamabad police recovered an explosives-laden vehicle from a house in Bhara Kahu that, they said, was being prepared to be used in a militant attack.In August, the Islamabad police recovered an explosives-laden vehicle from a house in Bhara Kahu that, they said, was being prepared to be used in a militant attack.
In 2010, Newsweek magazine reported that Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, under pressure from the United States over its links to the Haqqani network, had arrested Nasiruddin Haqqani. He was later released, according to news media reports.In 2010, Newsweek magazine reported that Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, under pressure from the United States over its links to the Haqqani network, had arrested Nasiruddin Haqqani. He was later released, according to news media reports.

Declan Walsh reported from London, and Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud from Islamabad. Farooq Jan Mangal contributed reporting from Khost, Afghanistan, and Salman Masood from Islamabad.

Declan Walsh reported from London, and Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud from Islamabad. Reporting was contributed by Farooq Jan Mangal from Khost, Afghanistan, Matthew Rosenberg from Washington, and Salman Masood from Islamabad.