PESHAWAR: Pakistani Taleban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has died, the country’s top civilian security official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

It was the government’s first categorical confirmation of the death of the feared militant, whose passing is likely to weaken, but not vanquish, the Al-Qaeda-linked insurgent network he led.

In a sign of the continued militant threat, a suicide bomber attacked a vehicle carrying tribal police near Pakistan’s volatile border with Afghanistan, killing 19 people, including 11 policemen, said a local government official.

Reports of Mehsud’s death emerged after a spate of US missiles hit his stronghold in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt in mid-January. Mehsud was said to have died of wounds suffered in one of the strikes in the Waziristan region.

In a response to an AP query, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik, wrote, “Yes, he is dead.” A senior intelligence official concurred separately. Neither gave details as to when or how the militant died.

In late January, a tribal elder told the Associated Press that he attended Mehsud’s funeral in the Mamuzai area of the Orakzai tribal region after Mehsud died at his in-laws’ home.

Some local media reports, citing unnamed Taleban sources, said Mehsud died more recently in the Multan area of central Pakistan on his way to receive medical treatment in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi.

There are reports that commanders already are lining up to vie for his position as Taleban chief.

Malik, the interior minister, also said Wednesday that Pakistan is investigating reports that Qari Hussain, another Hakimullah deputy, had also been killed.

The suicide bomber who attacked police in Pakistan’s Khyber tribal area Wednesday was able to get inside their vehicle before detonating his explosives, said local tribesman Izzakhana Afridi, who witnessed the bombing.

“I saw him running and jumping into the Khasadar vehicle and then an explosion pushed me down to the ground some 50 yards away,” said Afridi, using the official name of the tribal police.

Rasheed Khan, a local government official, said the blast killed 19 people including 11 policemen.