ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Pakistan said it was trying to confirm reports Sunday that Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud had died of wounds suffered in a U.S. drone attack.
Unconfirmed reports on state television said Mehsud, head of the Pakistani Taliban, had been buried after being fatally wounded in mid-January during unmanned aircraft attacks in North Waziristan, The Guardian reported Sunday.
"We don't have any confirmation yet," army Major Gen. Athar Abbas said, adding the reports of Mehsud's death and burial did not come from "any state agency."
The U.S. military increased its drone attacks on Taliban strongholds in Pakistan's tribal region after seven CIA employees and a Jordanian army captain died Dec. 30 in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan, authorities said.
Pakistan has publicly criticized the drone attacks, saying they fuel support for militants. Privately, however, the Pakistani government has condoned the strikes, authorities said.
Asked by The Guardian how he felt about a U.S. drone killing a Pakistani militant leader, Abbas said: "I would be happier if he had been killed by our own security forces."
