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Pakistan Taliban dismiss claims of leader's death
Questions swirled on Wednesday over the fate of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, with a Pakistani television channel reporting he had died of illness but Taliban spokesmen dismissed the report.
- Agencies
- Published: 11:01 October 1, 2008
Islamabad: Questions swirled on Wednesday over the fate of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, with a Pakistani television channel reporting he had died of illness but Taliban spokesmen dismissed the report.
Mehsud is the militant commander Pakistani authorities accuse of being behind a wave of suicide attacks across the country, including the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in December.
The Geo television channel reported late on Tuesday that Mehsud, based in the lawless Waziristan region on the Afghan border, had died of kidney failure after a long illness.
But Taliban spokesmen denied the report of his death, or even that he was seriously ill.
"I just spoke to a close aide of Baitullah Mehsud and he did not mention any such thing," said militant spokesman Muslim Khan, based in northwest Pakistan's Swat Valley.
"It could be government propaganda," Khan said of the Mehsud death report.
In the United States, a Pentagon official said he could not
confirm the reports Mehsud was dead.
The media-shy Mehsud is known to be a diabetic but another Taliban spokesman rejected recent media reports Mehsud had been
seriously ill.
"Our leadership is fine and healthy. There's no serious illness," said the second spokesman, Maulvi Omar.
A close aide to Mehsud, Ibrahim Burqi, said Mehsud had been sick some time ago but was fine.
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