The Pakistani Taleban announced a successor to slain commander Baitullah Mehsud, but intelligence officials said Sunday it was probably a smokescreen meant to hold together a movement left leaderless for almost three weeks. Taleban officials rang journalists in northwest Pakistan Saturday to say Hakimullah Mehsud, a young militant who commands fighters in the Orakzai, Khyber and Kurram tribal regions, had been chosen as the new chief by a leadership council, or Shoura. Western governments with troops in Afghanistan are watching to see if any new Pakistani Taleban leader would shift focus from fighting the Pakistani government and put the movement's weight behind the Afghan insurgency led by Mullah Mohammad Omar. A BBC report quoted Faqir Mohammad, head of the Taleban in the Bajaur tribal region, as saying Hakimullah was selected. Tribal elders told Reuters that Hakimullah was named after Faqir Mohammad was dissuaded from taking the leadership, although earlier he had said he was taking temporary command. “There's confusion. Two days ago, Faqir Mohammad claimed he's acting chief and now he says Hakimullah is,” one senior intelligence officer in northwest Pakistan said. “It's a trick.” Intelligence officials insisted Hakimullah was killed or gravely wounded in a shootout with a rival days after Baitullah Mehsud was killed by a US missile strike on Aug. 5. “The announcement is real, but the man isn't,” the officer said. “The real Hakimullah is dead.” Another senior officer, who requested anonymity, speculated that the Taleban leadership was trying to buy time until one of Hakimullah's brothers returned from fighting in the Afghan insurgency to take command of his men. Verifying anything in the Taleban-held tribal regions is difficult and the past few weeks have seen a spate of claims and counter-claims by the Pakistani authorities and the militants. Taleban officials say Pakistani intelligence agents were spreading misinformation to create divisions in the movement. The Pakistani authorities say the Pakistani Taleban are in disarray and the statements made are meant to preserve some sense of unity until a new leader emerges. The Taleban have denied that Mehsud was killed in the missile strike, but say he is seriously ill. After the reports of a shootout between Hakimullah and a rival a Reuters journalist subsequently received calls from both of them denying that there had been any fight. Intelligence officials doubt whether the callers were who they said they were, even though the journalist knew both men's voices and believed they were genuine. Baitullah had united 13 militant factions in northwest Pakistan to form the Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan in late 2007, and the Pakistani authorities are hoping that death would hasten the disintegration of the loose
