PESHAWAR: Leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakeemullah Mehsud, who had accepted responsibility for the deadly suicide attack on a CIA base camp in Afghanistan, appears to have been killed in a drone attack in South Waziristan, a senior security official said.
The attack has left at least ten people dead, amongst them are three militant commanders, the official said.
“It is immaterial to say how many have been killed in the attack. The important thing for us is whether Hakeemullah is amongst those killed”, the official said, requesting he not be named.
He said that the TTP chief was the target of the drone attack. “He has probably been killed.”
The Taliban have denied the TTP chief has been killed. TTP spokesman, Azam Tariq said that he and Hakeemullah both were alive and safe. "We were in Shaktoi but not at the compound which has been struck", he told a reporter in the region in a satellite phone call.
The official said that the missile struck the compound of Fazal Mehsud alias Uqabi in Shaktoi in the Sararogha sub-district of South Waziristan. The area borders North Waziristan.
The 28-year-old Hakeemullah had succeeded Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed a drone attack on the night of August 5 last.
The TTP had claimed responsibility for the deadly suicide attack on the CIA forwarding operating base Chapman in the southeastern province of Khost on December 30 last.
The claim was followed by a video of the suicide bomber, a Jordanian double-agent Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi. Sitting next to Balawi in the video was Hakeemullah Mehsud.
The United States had vowed to hunt down those responsible for the deadly attack on the CIA post and Pakistani intelligence officials say the Thursday’s attack to eliminate Hakeemullah appeared to be CIA’s revenge for the Khost bombing.
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