Speculation continued on Monday about the fate of Hakeemullah Mehsud, with senior government officials unwilling to confirm that the Tehreek-e-Taliban chief had been killed, as reported by a state-run television channel, in a drone strike in mid-January.
The Taliban continue to deny the reports of their leader’s killing, but a TTP shura was already rumoured to be underway to choose a successor to Hakeemullah, who took over as chief of the umbrella group of militants only five months ago after the death of Beithullah Mehsud, the previous amir .
The remoteness of Shaktoi, a border town between North and South Waziristan in Pakistan’s north-west tribal area where a U.S. drone strike is said to have killed Hakeemullah, and its inaccessibility to journalists and government officials makes the information emerging from the area patchy and unreliable.
The rumours of the 28-year-old Tehreek-e-Taliban chief’s death resurfaced on Sunday, two weeks after first reports that he was killed in a drone strike.
The TTP had released an audiotape two days after the January 14 strike, with a message purportedly from Hakeemullah that he was alive and well, and a warning to Pakistan that it would have to pay for the U.S. drone strikes in the tribal areas.
Some reports then suggested that Hakemullah may have been injured in the strike and not killed, as was initially believed.
On January 17, there was another drone attack in the same area, and it is now being said that he may have been killed in this strike and not the previous one, although there is no clarity yet on any of the reports.
Sometimes, it can be weeks before information from the tribal areas is confirmed, and at times, it can turn out to be wrong. Hakeemullah was reported killed in a shoot-out in a succession battle last August after the killing of Beithullah and that was proved wrong.
The state-run Pakistan Television said on Sunday that the Taliban commander had succumbed to his injuries in the Orakzai tribal agency, while a private television channel also said it had confirmation of his death from the doctor who had treated him.
The names of Waliur Rehman, the TTP second-in-command, and Qari Hussein, the dreaded trainer of Taliban suicide bombers, were doing the rounds as possible successors to Hakeemullah.
