ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 24 (UPI) -- A senior Taliban militant in Pakistan, who spent two years at the U.S. detention camp in Guantanamo Bay reportedly blew himself up Tuesday during a raid.
Pakistani officials said 32-year-old Abdullah Mehsud, who became one of the most wanted Taliban militants in Pakistan after his release from the U.S. detention center in Cuba in March 2004, died in Baluchistan Province by blowing himself up with a grenade to escape capture, the International Herald Tribune reported.
"He was an active Taliban commander and a supporter of al-Qaida," Pakistan Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema was quoted as saying.
Cheema said the raid had been ordered on the residence of a local religious leader. He said three of Mehsud's associates were arrested.
Mehsud, who hailed from the tribal North Waziristan area, was known as a daredevil personality, the report said. After his release from Guantanamo Bay, Mehsud returned to a senior Taliban leadership position, Cheema said.
Among other charges against him, Mehsud was most wanted for the 2004 kidnapping of two Chinese engineers, their Pakistani driver and a security guard, the Tribune reported. One engineer was later killed. The other three victims were freed by government troops.
