Al Qaeda Vies for More Power in Pakistani Taliban Group

By ZAHID HUSSAIN IN ISLAMABAD and MATTHEW ROSENBERG IN NEW DELHI

Officials struggled Monday to figure out what is going on inside the Pakistan Taliban following the apparent death of its leader last week and said al Qaeda was trying to gain greater power in the group.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top American commander in Afghanistan, says the U.S. military needs to make strategic changes to its presence in the region, including shifting more troops to cities. WSJ's Peter Spiegel reports.

Pakistan's top law-enforcement official said al Qaeda was taking advantage of a bloody succession battle to choose a leader favorable to its interests, while someone identifying himself as a contender who had been reported killed in that infighting called reporters to say he's alive and well.

The contender, Hakimullah Mehsud, also claimed that Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban leader U.S. and Pakistani officials say they are almost certain was killed last week in an American missile strike, is still alive. The two men aren't directly related.

Officials say Baitullah Mehsud, as the nominal leader of the Pakistan Taliban, helped orchestrate a series of bombings in Pakistan's major cities and Taliban offensives in its northwestern mountains. Also believed killed along with the militant leader were his second wife and a number of top aides.

While officials lack physical evidence of Mr. Mehsud's death, they point to communications intercepts and information from informers in the remote South Waziristan tribal agency where the Taliban leader held sway. There are also other signs, such as the militants completely closing to outsiders the area around the parts of South Waziristan where Mr. Mehsud's faction is in control. Pakistani officials say that by claiming that Mr. Mehsud isn't dead, the Taliban may be trying to maintain unity in the movement in Pakistan, which appears to be seriously strained.

Pakistani officials and militants say members of Mr. Mehsud's faction -- there are more than a dozen different groups in the Pakistan Taliban -- have been meeting in recent days to choose a new leader and, presumably, a new overall leader for the loose confederation of groups, which is known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban.

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Hakimullah Mehsud, left, posing for media on Nov. 26, has reached out to news organizations in the past to issue Taliban threats to carry out attacks in Pakistani cities in retaliation for U.S. drone attacks.

Members of al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban, which oversees but doesn't directly control the Pakistani side of the movement, have also been taking part in the deliberations, the officials and militants say.

But much remains murky. Over the weekend, Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking privately, said they were almost certain that Hakimullah Mehsud, who is one of the Taliban commanders believed to be among the top contenders, had been slain in a shootout between his supporters and the backers of another contender.

On Monday, Hakimullah Mehsud called to say the reports are untrue, the Associated Press reported. The AP said its reporter was familiar with the militant commander's voice.

Hours before the phone call, Pakistan's Interior Ministry chief, Rehman Malik, said al Qaeda is believed to have intervened to end the succession battle.

If Mr. Mehsud's death inadvertently allows al Qaeda to gain more influence, it could help the insurgents maintain their potency and reach. Pakistan was taking measures to stop that from happening, Mr. Malik said.

Write to Zahid Hussain in Islamabad at zahid.hussain@dowjones.com and Matthew Rosenberg in New Delhi at matthew.rosenberg@wsj.com