US says captured top Pakistani Taliban leader

WASHINGTON - Agence France-Presse

Pakistani Taliban commander Latif Mehsud is pictured in Sararogha in south Waziristan in Pakistan in this Oct. 4, 2009 photo. AP photo

American troops have captured a senior leader of the Pakistani Taliban in a military operation, a U.S. official said Oct. 11.

"I can confirm that U.S. forces did capture... terrorist leader Latif Mehsud in a military operation," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said, descriving the captive as a senior commander in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

She gave no details of the operation and did not say where and when it took place.

"Mehsud is a senior commander in TTP and served as a trusted confidante of the group's leader Hakimullah Mehsud," Harf said.

She told reporters that the TTP had claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing of Times Square, New York, in 2010.

The group "had also vowed to attack the U.S. homeland again," Harf said, adding it had also been behind attacks on US diplomats in Pakistan as well as incidents that killed Pakistani civilians.