Hakeemullah may have escaped US drone strike : Pak official

Islamabad, Feb.4 (ANI): Pakistan Taliban chief Hakeemullah Mehsud may have survived the US drone attack in which he is believed to have been killed last month.

A top Pakistani official, on condition of anonymity, said Mehsud and his close aide Qari Hussain, the father of the Taliban's suicide bombing programme, may be alive.

Mystery surrounds Mehsud's death since some media reports suggested that a US drone attack in terror hot bed North Waziristan on January 26 had killed him.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), however, has been denying Mehsud's death ever since the missile strike and has also released two audio tapes to claim that the chieftain was alive.

The Pakistan Army said it is still investigating reports which said the extremist chieftain was killed in a US drone attack earlier this month in Taliban stronghold North Waziristan.

The TTP chief has died in the home of his father-in-law due to wounds sustained in a drone strike earlier this month, state run PTV earlier quoted local sources in Aurakzai tribal region, as saying. The channel also reported that Mehsud was buried in Mamoonzai area of Aurakzai Agency. (ANI)