Daily News Channel
Taliban official Hakeemullah Mehsud has been selected the new head of the Pakistani Taliban, a local Taliban commander in Pakistan’s federally administered tribal areas told CNN Saturday. Mehsud was selected Friday by a 42-member Taliban council, or shura, according to Taliban commander Qari Haris. Another Taliban official — Maulvi Faqir Mohammad — had been tapped as Mehsud’s deputy, Haris said.
The United States knows that the leader of Pakistan’s Taliban is dead because he has not appeared in public to prove that he is alive, the top U.S. envoy to the region told CNN on Monday. Richard Holbrooke said that the Pakistani Taliban have not confirmed the death of Baitullah Mehsud because of an ongoing power struggle over his successor
Pakistan’s Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud is alive, the group’s spokesman told CNN on Tuesday — disputing the Obama administration’s contention that he was killed by a CIA missile strike. Spokesman Maulvi Umar said Mehsud is ill, but safe at an undisclosed location
The leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, was likely killed in a U.S. Predator drone attack in a remote tribal region Wednesday, said a Pakistani official who has knowledge of intelligence matters