In a sensational disclosure BY several intelligence and militant sources across Pakistan confirmed that the head of the Pakistani Taliban Hakimullah Mehsud had been killed in the drone strike in the lawless North Waziristan region.
Hakimullah Mehsud, who was believed to be young and was one of Pakistan's most wanted men, has been rumoured to killed several times earlier, but one senior security official said this time,"We can confirm Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in the drone strike".
The US had offered $5 million for Mehsud's capture after he appeared in a farewell video with the Jordanian suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees at a base in Afghanistan in 2009.
The intelligence source added, "Among the dead, who are in large numbers, are Hakimullah's personal bodyguard Tariq Mehsud and his driver Abdullah Mehsud, two of his closest people," and further added that at least 25 people were killed in the strike.
North Waziristan, which is the stronghold of the Taliban insurgency and shares a border with Afghanistan,where this killing took place and it will change the course of months of debate over potential peace talks between the Taliban and the new government of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.