Here's a guy you can't accuse of an assassination and expect to rest on his laurels. This one was pretty much expected, given Mehsud's past.
Showing off his undisputed warlording skills, and further embarassing the Pakistani military's Frontier Corps, (FC) Baitullah Masood (or Meshud, the spelling of his tribal-origin name is still quite confusing in
angrezi) has taken the Sararogha Fort in South Waziriztan, 80 kilometers from the town of Wana, with a 1,000 man strong force. Most of the Pakistani military is bunkered up in cantonments and forts and doesn't really get to exercise much control in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan.
The last we heard of Sararogha Fort was in August 2007 when a convoy of 16 FC paramilitary troopers went missing (08/10) leaving the fort and then "[the] surrender of an estimated 280 soliders, including a colonel and nine other officesers, on 30 August in South Waziristan to just a few score Taleban fighters who blocked their supply convoy on the road to the main town of Wana." That's 280 highly trained paramilitary corps just giving up at the sight of Mehsud's troops.
The loss of the fort is a continuing blow to President Musharraf who's repeatedly
attempted to assert some control over the region, both for his sake and
also at the repeated urging of our military.
Washington Post,
47 Killed as Insurgents Take Key Fort in NW Pakistan, 01/17/2008
Pak Tribune,
Taliban claims to have control of Sararogha Fort, 30 soldiers killed in attack, 01/17/2008
McClatchy,
Islamic militants capture Pakistani fort, 01/16/2008
BBC,
Pakistan crisis 'hits army morale', 09/17/2007