ISLAMABAD - A suspected CIA missile attack has killed the brother of one of the Afghan Taliban's most feared commanders, Pakistan intelligence officials said Friday, the latest in a series of strikes against the heart of the insurgent movement's leadership. Siraj Haqqani, leader of the Haqqani group faction, was the apparent target of the Thursday attack in a village in the North Waziristan area near the Afghan border, two officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. Haqqani's brother, Mohammed Haqqani, and three others were killed, the officials said. The Haqqani network is an autonomous faction of the Afghan Taliban, which maintains close ties to al-Qaida. The U.S. military in Afghanistan believe the Haqqani network, which operates in eastern Afghanistan, is among the most fanatical insurgent groups and is responsible for several high-profile attacks in Kabul, including last year's assault against a guesthouse full of U.N. workers in which 11 people died. The group also has a history of links to Pakistani intelligence, which protected them because the group does not stage attacks on Pakistani soil. Raids during the past two weeks on Pakistan have battered Taliban militants who for years have used the country as a haven from U.S.-led forces fighting the insurgency in Afghanistan. The group has been weakened just as international forces launched a major offensive in Afghanistan. Stepped-up missile attacks from unmanned U.S. drone aircraft have added to pressure on the militants. The latest missile strike Thursday apparently targeted Siraj Haqqani, a senior figure in an al-Qaida-linked network based in the northwest tribal region on the Afghan border. Two CIA missiles slammed into a SUV that he owned, but he was not inside. However, his brother, Mohammed Haqqani, was in the vehicle and was killed, two Pakistani intelligence officials told The Associated Press.
