Evidence For: Too Much Massage Can Kill You
Story covered by AFP news. I have no idea who AFP is. Anyway...
Mehsud killed while getting 'leg massage': report.
WASHINGTON — Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed last week in a CIA drone attack while getting a leg massage on the roof of his father-in-law's house, CNN said Monday, citing an unnamed US official.
A US counterterrorism official told AFP, meanwhile, that "there are strong indications (Mehsud) is dead" following a drone attack.
"No one is expecting him home for dinner tonight," the official said.
US President Barack Obama is being told Mehsud was killed after a "dramatic escalation" of nine unmanned drones specifically targeting the Taliban leader in recent weeks, the US official told CNN television.
On Wednesday night, US surveillance in Pakistan spied a man on the roof of Mehsud's father-in-law's home in South Waziristan.
The description was of a "short, stocky man who was following the physical description" of Mehsud, CNN said, citing the intelligence official.
A woman was massaging the man's leg and the Central Intelligence Agency knew Mehsud had diabetes, experienced pain in his legs, and often sought relief in that way, the report said.
Officials already had authorization from Obama to strike Mehsud if they thought they had a clear shot.
"That's when the CIA decided to move in," the network said the official said.
A top Taliban commander, Hakimullah Mehsud, earlier Monday challenged Pakistan to prove that Mehsud was dead, insisting in a telephone call to AFP that the warlord was still alive.
Although Pakistan said it believed Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack along with his wife on Wednesday, confusion has reigned and the government there has stopped short of confirming his death.
White House national security advisor Jim Jones said on Sunday that the United States was "90 percent" sure Baitullah Mehsud is dead after a US missile strike.
"The Pakistani government believes he is and all the evidence we have suggests that," Jones said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.
Hakimullah Mehsud claimed the insurgent group would issue a message in the next three to four days proving Baitullah Mehsud was still alive.
Hakimullah said only that Baitullah was "a bit sick."
Hakimullah did confirm to AFP, however, that Baitullah's wife had been killed in an attack, adding that the Taliban would soon avenge her death.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
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