AQIM Mourns Pakistani Taliban Commander Baitullah Mehsud
By Evan Kohlmann
The NEFA Foundation has obtained a new communiqué from Al-Qaida's network in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) mourning the death of Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud in a U.S. air strike. According to the statement, Mehsud was “graced…with martyrdom at the hands of the ruthless power and the most tyrannical country in the world; not in a battle where men meet face-to-face, but in a cowardly raid operation using a jet, and how shameful that this jet was without a pilot.” AQIM added, “our enemies should know that every time they [kill] a commander from our commanders or a master from our masters, they only provide us with fuel that will…[push] our movement forward on the path of Jihad seeking victory or martyrdom until the banner of unification is above all banners...and our Sheikh Usama rises above their fool Obama.”
A translation of the latest AQIM statement can be downloaded from the NEFA Foundation website.