Intelligence official says Pak Taliban interrogating Mehsud family members

Peshawar, Aug.22 (ANI): Four relatives of Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud have been detained by the militants on suspicion that they tipped off the authorities about his whereabouts, and this led to his death.

A foreign news agency said quoted a senior intelligence official as saying that Mehsud's father-in-law, Ikramuddin Mehsud, his son, one of his brothers and a nephew had been detained by the Taliban on suspicion that they had passed on information about Mehsud's whereabouts.

"They were arrested two days ago and are being interrogated by the Taliban in Sararogha," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Pakistani and US officials are almost certain that Mehsud was killed by drone strike at his father-in-law's house in South Waziristan on August 5, but Mehsud's aides have denied his death.

Mehsud had been suffering from a stomach ailment and was lying on a cot on the flat roof of the house while his wife was sitting beside him when the missile struck shortly after midnight. (ANI)