TTP Chief Hakeemullah Mehsud

ISLAMABAD: Official sources have confirmed the death reports of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Chief Hakeemullah Mehsud at Orakzai Agency today.

According to sources, Hakeemullah was seriously injured in a US drone attack and and could not survive. Sources confirmed that he was buried at Tehsil Mamozai.

The pre-dawn attack in Shaktoi area on Friday, 15th January this year triggered rumours that Hakimullah Mehsud, the chief of the banned Tahrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, had been killed. But the TTP spokesman Azam Tariq dismissed the reports termin them ‘baseless’. But now it has been confirmed from some key officials involved in war against terror that he could not survive after getting seriously injured and he was buried at Tehsil Mamozai later on.

Hakimullah, 28, succeeded Baitullah Mehsud on Aug 20 last year after Baitullah had been killed in a drone attack on the night of Aug 5.

The government had announced a Rs100 million reward for killing or capturing him.

The TTP had claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide attack on a forward operating base of the US Central Intelligence Agency at Chapman in Khost province of Afghanistan on Dec 30.

After the claim a video was released showing the suicide bomber, Jordanian double-agent Humam Khalil Abu Mulal Al Balawi, sitting next to Hakimullah.