By Xinhua,
Islamabad: A senior leader of the Pakistani Taliban Saturday denied its chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike and said his recorded message would be made public in two days.
Hakimullah Mehsud, the spokesman of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), said Mehsud was alive and hiding at an undisclosed location, TV channel ARY News reported.
According to an Arabic TV channel, Hakimullah said Baitullah Mehsud had gone into hiding as “a part of strategy”.
He added that Baitullah will talk about the US drone attack in his message.
Commenting on media reports that Mehsud was attacked in his father-in-law’s house, he said that to live or stay in his father-in-law’s house was considered “a very shameful thing” in the tribal areas and he did not stay there.
Local and foreign media have been reporting over the past two days that Mehsud was killed in the attack in northwest Pakistan’ s South Waziristan tribal region Wednesday when he was staying at the house of his father-in-law.
The denial has created further confusion over Mehsud’s death as Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had stated Friday that intelligence sources have confirmed his death.
Government sources said Friday it was the part of the TTP’s strategy to deny their chief’s death.
Security analyst Mehmood Shah said that Mehsud is dead but the Taliban are trying to hide the fact as they are facing problems in electing a new chief.
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the media that Mehsud had likely been killed in the missile attack Wednesday.
Mehsud’s personal driver Muhammad Qasim, who was killed in the US drone attack in South Waziristan Wednesday, was buried Saturday in his hometown of Mardan, a main city in the northwest, locals said.