Mehsud dead, says Pakistan minister

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Pakistan's foreign minister, citing intelligence reports, said Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a drone attack, Geo TV reported Friday.

"He has been taken out" in an attack Wednesday in the Waziristan tribal region, Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters in Islamabad, adding the Islamabad government was conducting ground verification "to confirm 100 percent."

Mehsud is accused of organizing several suicide attacks in Pakistan.

He was likely killed in a U.S. Predator drone attack, CNN reported, quoting a Pakistani official with knowledge of intelligence matters. The official said the strike in the South Waziristan tribal area was based on "solid intel," and that "the Mehsud network has gone quiet as if in shock."

The official also said "there is a high degree of confidence but certainty only comes after physical evidence and DNA is processed," noting Mehsud "has shown up alive after previous near misses."

Mehsud was accused of organizing the December 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, wife of current President Asif Ali Zardari.

The Times of India reported Mehsud may have been killed along with his wife, and bodyguards. It quoted Pakistani Interior minister Rehman Malik as saying, "We suspect (Mehsud) was killed in the missile strike. We have some information, but we don't have material evidence to confirm it."

The Times, quoting sources in the tribal area, reported Mehsud was buried late Wednesday in Waziristan's Nargasi village and that the Taliban had called a meeting of its 'shura' (council) Friday to appoint a new chief.