Pakistan/Terrorism: Pakistani Taliban leader reportedly dead

Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, died on Wednesday at about 1 a.m. local time from kidney failure, CNN has reported.

According to the American news network, Mehsud’s death has been confirmed by Pakistani military officials.

Some local media in Pakistan reported about Mehsud’s death while some others said the Taliban were denying it.

Earlier reports raised doubts about his health condition, claiming that the 34-year-old taliban leader was ill and was expected to die within days.

Mehsud, who belongs to the Mehsud tribe in Pakistan’s South Waziristan region, is the commander of the Taliban in Pakistan and has been blamed by the Pakistani authorities for the assassination, last December, of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.