Pakistani Officials: Taliban Chief Now Believed Alive

Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud (c.) sits with other millitants in South Waziristan in this October 4, 2009 file video grab. Mehsud is in fact alive, according to a senior intelligence official in Islamabad. Reuters TV/Reuters/File

Pakistan Agents Believe Taliban's Mehsud Is Alive -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Pakistani intelligence officials said on Thursday they believed Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud was alive, contradicting earlier comments that he was killed in a CIA-operated drone aircraft strike.

Mehsud was widely believed to have been killed in the Taliban bastion of South Waziristan near the Afghan border in January.

A Pakistani intelligence official said it was now believed that Mehsud had survived the attack."Yes, he is alive," a senior intelligence official told Reuters.

A second Pakistani intelligence official said he also believed that Mehsud survived the missile strike, though there was no hard evidence to confirm it.

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More News On Pakistan Taliban Leader Mehsud

Intel: Pakistan Taliban chief now believed alive -- AP
Pakistan Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud is alive: spy agency -- Christian Science Monitor
Pakistan Says Taliban Leader Not Dead -- Wall Street Journal
Officials: Taliban's Mehsud alive despite death reports -- CNN
Pakistan's Taliban leader survived U.S. drone missile -- L.A. Times
Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud 'still alive' -- BBC
Taliban chief 'survived US attack' -- Press Association
Report: Taliban leader Mehsud is alive -- UPI
Hakeemullah Mehsud 'is alive': ISI official -- Threat Matrix