Report: No. 2 Taliban leader killed in a U. S. drone strike

A suspected U. S. drone strike killed the No. 2 commander of the Pakistani Taliban on Wednesday, Pakistani intelligence officials said, although the militant group denied he was killed.

If confirmed, the death of Waliur Rehman would be a strong blow to the militant group responsible for hundreds of bombings and shootings across Pakistan. The United States has a $ 5 million bounty out on Rehman, who Washington has accused of involvement in the 2009 suicide attack on a U. S. base in Afghanistan that killed seven Americans working for the CIA.

Missiles fired by a U. S. drone slammed into a house early Wednesday in Miran Shah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal region, killing five people including Rehman, Pakistani officials said.

Two officials said their informants in the field saw Rehman’s body, while a third said intelligence authorities had intercepted communications between militants saying Rehman was dead.