New Pakistan Taliban Leader After Drone Strike

The number two commander in the Pakistani Taliban has been promoted to leader after its previous chief was killed in a US drone strike.

Khan Said, also known as Sajna, now commands the militant group following a meeting of the supreme ruling council, according to security officials.

Said is believed to have masterminded an attack on a jail in north-west Pakistan that freed nearly 400 prisoners in 2012 and an attack on a Pakistani air force base in the same year.

Previous leader Hakimullah Mehsud had a $5m (£3.1m) US government bounty on his head and was one of Pakistan's most wanted men.

He has been buried after being killed on Friday along with four associates when a drone targeted his car in a compound in the country's North Waziristan tribal district.

A senior US intelligence official confirmed the strike, adding that the US had received positive confirmation that Mehsud had been killed.

A Pakistani Taliban fighter said Mehsud's body was "damaged but recognisable". His bodyguard and driver were also killed.

Hakimullah Mehsud (c) seen with other Taliban militants in a video in 2009

Spokesman for the militant group, Azam Tariq, said: "Every drop of Hakimullah's blood will turn into a suicide bomber. America and their friends shouldn't be happy because we will take revenge for our martyr's blood."

Mehsud, who was believed to be aged in his mid-30s, has been reported dead several times before.

The US offered the $5m bounty after he appeared in a video with a Jordanian suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees at a base in Afghanistan in 2009.

Mehsud was also believed to be behind a failed car bombing in New York's Times Square in 2010, as well as brazen attacks inside Pakistan.

The US National Counterterrorism Centre describes Mehsud as "the self-proclaimed emir of the Pakistani Taliban". 

The CIA and the White House declined to comment on the death.

The killing is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Pakistani Taliban.

A drone strike killed Mehsud's number two, Waliur Rehman, in May and one of his most trusted lieutenants was captured in Afghanistan last month.

The death comes at a politically sensitive time and follows months of debate over potential peace talks between the Taliban and the new government of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who swept to a landslide victory in May elections.

Pakistan's government has been trying to cut a peace deal with the militants to end years of fighting that has killed thousands of Pakistani civilians and security forces.

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