The CIA concluded that Mehsud was behind the Dec. 27 killing of Bhutto shortly after it occurred, according to an intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The intelligence official said Mehsud, believed to be in his early 30s, is a "committed jihadist" who recruits and trains suicide operatives for the Taliban and Al Qaeda. His network carries out suicide attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, primarily along the border. The attacks have extended from Nuristan Province in northeast Afghanistan to Helmand Province in the south.
He has bragged of having 3,000 would-be suicide bombers. His suicide squads have taken credit for attacks against the military and police in northwestern Pakistan, as well as bombings at a hotel in the capital of Islamabad that killed a security guard and at the Islamabad international airport.
The Washington Post first reported the CIA's take on the Bhutto attack yesterday in an interview with CIA director Michael Hayden.
In Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, dozens of Islamic militants died yesterday in clashes with government Pakistani troops, the army said, amid reports that the military had launched an operation to clear the area of fighters who overran military positions near the Afghan border.
The intensifying combat highlighted the deteriorating security in the region, a stronghold of Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Last month, Mehsud unveiled an alliance of Taliban militants operating in the lawless tribal area. That represented a new challenge to the authority of President Pervez Musharraf, who has deployed nearly 100,000 troops in the region since joining the US-led war on terror six years ago.
Musharraf has blamed Mehsud and pro-Taliban militant cleric Maulana Fazlullah for about 20 suicide attacks in the last three months that have killed more than 400 people.
Mehsud's fighters led the brazen capture of 213 Pakistani soldiers last August. A Western military official who has worked both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border and requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists said Mehsud has about 5,000 hard-core fighters.
