Top Taliban Leader Still Alive

Hakimullah Mehsud

Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud survived an American drone attack in the north-west of the country in January, intelligence sources say.

Officials said at the time that he was killed in a US missile attack along with at least 10 suspected militants.

Pakistani intelligence officials now say that Mr Mehsud was only wounded in the attack - although his authority within the Taliban has diminished.

From the outset, the Taliban consistently denied that he was dead.

Internal squabbling
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says that claims by US and Pakistani officials that Hakimullah Mehsud had been killed always lacked credibility.

The BBC also received a video of Hakimullah Mehsud, but it was difficult to determine when the footage was shot.

Our correspondent says that another argument against his death was the fact that there was no leadership challenge within the Pakistani Taliban after his reported demise - a development that normally would have been expected to have taken place.

BBC