The wife of Pakistani Taleban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed Wednesday in a US drone attack targeting her husband at a home in the tribal belt near the Afghan border, officials said. According to a relative of the dead wife, Mehsud was not present when the missiles struck a house belonging to the wife's father, Maulana Ikramuddin, and was located in Laddah village in South Waziristan, part of Pakistan's lawless tribal badlands outside direct government control. “Baitullah is safe and alive,” Iqbal Mehsud, a cousin of the dead woman, said. Ikramuddin's daughter was Mehsud's second wife. Mehsud has no children by his first wife. The US has placed a $5 million reward on the head of Mehsud, an ally of Al-Qaeda widely regarded in Pakistan as Public Enemy No. 1. The nephew said that four of Ikramuddin's grandchildren were wounded, and that his pro-Taleban cleric uncle was “safe.” Warlord Mehsud took Ikramuddin's daughter as his second wife, believed to have been in her early 20s, last November and is often thought to be accompanied by members of his family when he travels from base to base. Negative effect An administration official in South Waziristan confirmed the death of the wife. “The killing of Mehsud's wife of course will not be taken very well in Muslim societies and will have a negative effect,” said Pakistani security analyst Talat Masood, warning that it could have negative repercussions for the US role in helping ally Pakistan battle Muslim militants Mehsud has allegedly masterminded multiple deadly bombings. The United States and previous Pakistani government blamed him for masterminding the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, which he denied.
