TALIBAN LEADER KILLED

Intercepted militant radio communications indicate the leader of the Pakistani Taliban may have been killed in a recent US drone strike, Pakistani intelligence officials said yesterday as a Taliban official denied it.

The claim that the Pakistani Taliban chief was killed came from officials who said they intercepted a number of Taliban radio conversations. In about a half a dozen intercepts, the militants discussed whether their chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed on January 12 in the North Waziristan tribal area. Some militants confirmed Mehsud was dead, and one criticised others for talking about the issue over the radio. Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). “The death toll has risen to 18, another 30 people have been injured,” Mohammad Mushtaq, a senior government official, told the private Dunya TV channel.

The injured have been taken to local hospitals, he added.

“We are trying to calm the situation,” Mushtaq said.

“We have evidence which shows that it was a bomb blast. We are also checking whether a suicide bomber was involved or not.”

But Suhail Zafar, a senior

‘Not clear’

— AP police official, told the private Geo TV channel that police were unclear what caused the blast.

“We are investigating the nature of the blast but it is yet not clear,” Zafar said, adding that police experts had collected some evidence to show it could be a bomb.

“We are examining evidence,” he said.

Abid Qadri, another senior police official in Rahim Yar Khan, said: “It was not an act of terrorism.”

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