The net closed on Taliban in Pakistan, where officials confirmed Friday that a US drone strike killed the brother of wanted warlord Sirajuddin Haqqani following the capture of the militia’s number two.

Mohammed Haqqani was a younger brother of Sirajuddin and although not as active in the militant network, his death was another symbolic coup in the covert American drone war against Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Pakistan.

US officials are still euphoric over the capture of Taliban military commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, seen as a sign of success after Pakistan long resisted pressure to act against Afghan Taliban leaders on its territory.

Washington believes militant safe havens in Pakistan’s tribal belt on the Afghan border must be eliminated if Al-Qaeda can be defeated and the eight-year war against the Taliban ended in neighbouring Afghanistan.

US Marines are leading a major offensive against a Taliban bastion in Helmand, billed as the biggest since the 2001 US-led invasion and the first test of the surge that will put 150,000 US and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

There is not thought to be a connection between Thursday’s Haqqani killing and Baradar’s arrest, and reported links are not confirmed between Baradar’s arrest and that of two other Taliban members, also reportedly nabbed in Pakistan.

“Mohammed Haqqani, son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, was killed in yesterday’s attack along with two foreign operatives and a local tribesman,” a senior Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Sirajuddin took over command of the Haqqani network, which is affiliated to the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda, from his elderly father, the well-known Soviet resistance commander Jalaluddin Haqqani.

“Mohammed was not actively involved in the movement but his place was used as a hideout for Arab foreign militants,” the official added.

Another two Afghans attached to the network were also killed in the attack, a local intelligence official said.

“It is a big loss for the family and for the Taliban. We will take revenge for his death on US and NATO forces in Afghanistan,” said a Taliban activist who gave his name as Nek Daraz in Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan.

Officials in Washington have hailed the drone campaign for eliminating a number of high-value targets in terrain classified as an intelligence black hole and which Al-Qaeda has turned into its global headquarters.

The Haqqanis are known for staging attacks on US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, and Washington has been pressing Islamabad to get tough on groups that use Pakistani soil to launch strikes over the border.

But Pakistani and Afghan analysts have cast doubts over Baradar’s status within the Afghan Taliban, suggesting he supported negotiations and accusing the Americans of overplaying his significance.

“He had stopped playing an active role in the fighting in December last year after developing differences with Taliban chief Mullah Omar,” said Pakistani expert on the Taliban, Rahimullah Yusufzai.

“We don’t know the real background of his arrest in Pakistan but there are reports that he did not have good relations with Pakistan and Pakistan may have considered him dispensable,” he added.

In Afghanistan, where Pakistan is treated with suspicion and believed to sponsor the Afghan Taliban, President Hamid Karzai has called for peace talks with Taliban commanders in a bid to end the insurgency.

“He (Baradar) was in contact with the Afghan government on peace negotiations and was leading a major wing of Taliban who could have been part of the peace process,” a senior Afghan general said on condition of anonymity.

Ahmad Sayeedi, an Afghan political analyst and former diplomat to Pakistan, also said Baradar had contacts with the Afghan government.

“Baradar wanted to come to some sort of an understanding with the Afghan government and the United States, which divided the Taliban leading council based in Quetta and after he left for Karachi,” he told AFP.

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