ISLAMABAD — Gunmen killed a senior leader and financier of one of the most feared militant groups fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan when he stopped to buy fresh bread from a bakery on the outskirts of Pakistan’s capital, members of the militant organization and an eyewitness said Monday.
Nasiruddin Haqqani’s death Sunday night is one of the biggest blows to the Haqqani militant network since the Afghan war started, but the commander’s presence in Islamabad and questions over who killed him could spark fresh tension between Pakistan and the United States.
U.S. officials have accused Pakistan’s intelligence agency of supporting the al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network to counter the influence of archenemy India in Afghanistan — an allegation denied by Islamabad.
No one has claimed responsibility for killing Nasiruddin Haqqani in an area of Islamabad only a couple of miles from the U.S. Embassy, but some Pakistanis are suspicious the Americans were behind it.
