ISLAMABAD, March 6, (Agencies): A top Pakistani Taleban commander close to al-Qaeda is believed to have been killed in an army airstrike, officials said Saturday, in the latest apparent blow to insurgents who have attacked Pakistan and threatened US forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
Maulvi Faqir Mohammed was believed to be among some two dozen insurgents killed Friday at a sprawling compound in the northwest Mohmand tribal region, two intelligence officials said.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said authorities had not identified the bodies of Mohammed or his fellow commander Qari Ziaur Rehman, but all the militants hiding at the site were killed after the helicopter gunships were dispatched on “real-time” intelligence.
“If Faqir Mohammed and Qari Ziaur Rehman are alive, then I will be surprised,” he told Pakistan’s Express news channel after receiving a briefing from the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
The intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the record. They said they were confident of their information, but warned that the remote, dangerous nature of the region made it nearly impossible to offer a definitive confirmation at this stage.
Pakistani Taleban spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

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QUETTA, Pakistan: Unknown gunmen riding on a motorcycle Saturday killed an opposition politician and his guard in a remote southwestern Pakistani town, police said. Sardar Aziz Umrani, the local chief of the Pakistan Muslim League of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was shot dead in his car in the town of Khuzdar by two men riding a motorcycle, senior police official Rehmat Ullah told AFP.
“Umrani died on the spot and three of his four guards were injured. One of the injured guards later died at hospital,” Ullah said, adding that a tribal feud could be behind the killing.
Another police official confirmed the incident and said Umrani had survived an assassination attempt three years ago.