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ISLAMABAD: Security officials have confirmed that Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed along with his wife and bodyguards in a missile attack two days ago, however, the Interior Minister has asked the media to wait for the official confirmation.“We suspect he was killed in the missile strike,” Malik said on Friday while talking to newsmen here. “We have some information, the information from his own network, but we don’t have material evidence to confirm it.”
“Please observe patience and wait for the official announcement by the ISPR or other agencies. We are presently tracking the information we’ve received,” Rehman told the newsmen.
“There is no confirmation to his death as far as the evidence is concerned. I repeat again, yes, the information is pouring from that area that he is dead.”
Meanwhile, various security officials – asked not to be named – have confirmed off-the-record that Mehsud was among those killed in an attack in South Waziristan agency believed to have been carried out by a pilotless U.S. drone aircraft at around 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
U.S. officials have visual and other indicators it was Mehsud and Pakistanis are now trying to collect physical evidence to be certain, US news channel ABC reported earlier today.
The United States has placed a $5 million reward on the head of Mehsud, an ally of al Qaeda widely regarded in Pakistan as Public Enemy No. 1.
Meanwhile, it was also reported that Intelligence agents had also picked up signs that leaders of various Taliban factions were gathering for a shura, or council meeting, somewhere in Waziristan to chalk out future strategy.