Post-Mehsud climate tense

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The reported death of Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud created unease for residents in the Pakistani province of Waziristan, the United Nations says.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced Friday that Mehsud was killed in a Wednesday airstrike that took the lives of his wife, bodyguards and several relatives.

Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud, however, told the BBC the reports were "ridiculous," adding the accounts amounted to nothing more than "propaganda by our enemies."

Area residents, however, remained cautious, saying they could not look forward to a sense of stability without concrete evidence the Taliban leader was dead, the U.N. humanitarian news agency IRIN reports.

Conflict in the tribal regions of Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan has displaced tens of thousands of people since fighting began between Taliban militants and the Pakistani army.

With the reported death of Mehsud, however, many area residents wonder if the region is now safe. Anticipation of retaliation and looming conflict in the tribal regions creates a sense of uncertainty, however.

Meanwhile, regional instability has led to economic problems in the region, with local citizens complaining of heavy losses of arable land due to the conflict.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said many of the internally displaced have returned to the region in recent weeks, though continued fighting makes the situation tense.