Pakistan Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud is alive: spy agency
(Read article summary)While presumed killed in a drone strike in January, Pakistan Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud is in fact alive, according to a senior intelligence official in Islamabad. It may set back the US drone program.
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Hakimullah Mehsud, a Taliban leader in Pakistan who was declared dead in January, is in fact alive, a senior intelligence official in Pakistan has said.
The news comes amid renewed criticism of the CIA’s secret and controversial drone program, and could serve as a setback to US efforts to contain the Taliban in Pakistan.
Hakimullah Mehsud succeeded former Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, after the latter was killed in a suspected CIA drone strike. Hakimullah proved to be just as lethal, if not more than, his predecessor: He was said to be one of the masterminds behind a suicide bombing in December that killed seven CIA officers in Khost, Afghanistan.
