by S.H. Khan
PESHAWAR - A Pakistani Taliban faction leader aligned against the militant group's feared chief Baitullah Mehsud has been shot dead, police said, ahead of an army offensive into Mehsud's northwest base.
Qari Zainuddin, a 26-year-old rising tribesman who was increasingly critical of Mehsud's use of suicide bombings targeting civilians, was killed at a house he used as an office in the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan.
The assassination comes a week after the army said it was extending an offensive against militants in the northwest into the lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border -- a campaign Zainuddin told local media he would back.
Also Tuesday, a suspected US missile strike hit a Mehsud stronghold killing six people in the tribal South Waziristan region, where Pakistani fighter jets have also been pounding militant targets ahead of a full-scale offensive.
"According to preliminary reports, the tribal warlord (Zainuddin) was asleep in his office after morning prayers when one of his accomplices opened fire on him," local police official Salah-ud-din Khan told AFP.
"Zainuddin was immediately shifted to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries," he added.
Khan said Zainuddin was pronounced dead at a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan town, which is in the district of the same name bordering South Waziristan.
Another local police official Ghulam Rabbani confirmed the incident, saying: "Qari Zainuddin has been assassinated."
Police and intelligence officials, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, identified the shooter as a guard named Gulbudin Mehsud.
Officials gave no motive for the killing, although blame will likely fall on Baitullah Mehsud.
Baz Mohammad, an aide of Zainuddin who was in the room at the time of the shooting, told AFP that the attacker was "an agent of Baitullah Mehsud" who was acting on orders of the Al-Qaeda-linked warlord.
"We were resting in a room after pre-dawn prayers when suddenly firing started. I saw a man... his name is Gulbudin, firing on us," Mohammad said.
Analysts said Mehsud would be keen to demonstrate his hold on the tribal areas amid splits that the military was keen to exploit.
"This shows that Baitullah Mehsud is still entrenched in South Waziristan and he is capable of eliminating his rivals," said Hasan Askari, a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University.
"This also means that his power and military manoeuverability has not been reduced by the initiation of army operations in South Waziristan."
Pakistani troops are wrapping up an almost two-month-long operation against Taliban rebels in northwest Swat valley, and are steeling to launch a second front against Mehsud and his network along the rugged tribal belt.
South Waziristan is Mehsud's stronghold, and Washington -- which has been a vocal supporter of Islamabad's anti-Taliban push -- alleges that Al-Qaeda fighters are in the region plotting attacks on Western targets.
Security officials said Tuesday that an unmanned US drone fired three missiles at Taliban buildings and vehicles in a Mehsud stronghold in South Waziristan, with six suspected militants killed.
Zainuddin spilt from Mehsud's Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group about nine months ago, and local media reported last week that the rival leader said he would welcome military action against his former commander.
"It is time to eliminate Baitullah now, otherwise no such opportunity would come in future," he was quoted as saying by The News.
Analysts have said that the military would likely try to fan the rivalries among the Mehsud tribe to gain allies before any ground assault into the hostile mountainous tribal belt where the government holds little sway.
Washington has called Mehsud "a key Al-Qaeda facilitator in the tribal areas", and earlier this year slapped a five-million-dollars bounty on his head for any information leading to his capture.
"He is going to be a tough and difficult opponent for the military... but the army can exploit this situation," said Askari.
"This assassination will cause increased conflict between Baitullah and the followers of the assassinated leader."