Pakistan’s government on Tuesday demanded that Taliban commanders release a video to substantiate their claim that notorious warlord Baitullah Mehsud survived a United States drone attack.
Hakimullah Mehsud, a top Taliban commander and deputy to Baitullah Mehsud, on Monday insisted that the warlord was alive and also denied reports of a deadly shooting between contenders for his succession.
”When Hakimullah can talk to Baitullah, he can also bring his video tape to contradict my claims that the Taliban chieftain is dead,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters outside Parliament.
Although Pakistani and US officials believe Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack in South Waziristan with his wife on Wednesday, confusion has reigned and both governments have stopped short of confirming his death.
Hakimullah told Agence France-Presse that Baitullah was ”a bit sick”.
”Amir sahib [Baitullah] is alive. He is healthy and he will come before the media soon. There is no succession,” he said.
Pakistan’s outspoken interior minister said Mehsud’s wife and guards were definitely killed in the drone attack.
”We have credible information that Mehsud is dead but we do not have confirmation in terms of material evidence,” Malik said.
Baitullah Mehsud, branded by Washington ”a key al-Qaeda facilitator” with a $5-million price on his head, narrowly escaped previous attacks.
He heads Pakistan’s most-wanted list, having been accused of masterminding the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, whose husband is now president. — Sapa-AFP