PESHAWAR, Pakistan, June 26 (UPI) -- A top Taliban commander narrowly escaped a U.S. airstrike on a funeral attended by insurgents in South Waziristan, intelligence officials say.
A Tuesday airstrike on a funeral for commanders of the Taliban targeted Baitullah Mehsud, the head of the Pakistani Taliban but he narrowly escaped with his life.
"We think we almost had him," intelligence officials told the online Long War Journal. "It was close."
South Waziristan, located in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, is the center of the U.S.-led effort against al-Qaida and Taliban operatives.
The attacks come as U.S. military commanders review their strategy concerning the use of airstrikes in the military campaign in Afghanistan in answer to concerns over civilian casualties.
"Air power contains the seeds of our own destruction if we do not use it responsibly," said U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander of combat forces in Afghanistan.
The Long War Journal notes three minor Taliban figures were killed in the strikes on the Pakistani tribal areas.
Meanwhile, opposition against the leader of the Pakistani Taliban mounts despite the recent assassination of one his critics.
Afghan insurgency veteran and militant commander Turkistan Bhittani said his militias had vowed to eliminate the Taliban commander and his fighters from the region, The Times of India reports.
"We reject Mehsud's policies and are willing to cooperate with the Pakistan army," he said.
