Chief of Tehrike Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Baitullah Mehsud, who led a deadly campaign of suicide bombs and assassinations in Pakistani cities, has been killed in a US drone attack, Pakistani officials here claimed and this was confirmed by a Mehsud aide.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmud Qureshi said intelligence information had confirmed his death. “However the government is doing ground verification so as to confirm it”, he added.

Interior minister Rehman Malik said reports were pouring in that the he was dead, but an official confirmation would wait further information. “The good thing is that these reports are coming from inside the group,” he said and vowed to continue campaign against the TTP till it was annihilated. Foreign and Pakistan media quoted a Mehsud aide Kafatullah as saying: “I confirm that Baitullah Mehsud and his wife died in the American missile attack in South Waziristan.”

Intelligence officials said Mehsud was killed in a missile attack from an American drone while he was having dialysis. His body was buried on Wednesday. A senior US intelligence official had earlier said there were strong indications that Mehsud was among those killed in Wednesday’s missile attack, but he did not elaborate.