Mehsud is alive, say Pakistan spies

US security officials had also said they believed Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in the January attack in an area between the North and South Waziristan tribal regions close to the Afghanistan border. They were not immediately available for comment.
The Taleban themselves had always claimed Mehsud was alive, but have said they were not going to offer any evidence such as a video recording because doing so could help security forces hunt him down. Until or unless they do, questions are likely to remain over his fate, given the patchy nature of intelligence from the tribal regions.
Four intelligence officials said Pakistan’s main spy agency now believed Mehsud was alive and well. They cited electronic surveillance and reports from sources in the field, including from inside the Taleban. One official said Mehsud was believed to have been wounded in the attack and had been seen alive after the attack.
All spoke on condition of anonymity because they work for the spy agencies, which do not allow operatives to be named in the media.
One senior official said Mehsud was no longer the major force in the movement, which has carried out scores of attacks in Pakistan in recent years and is allied to Al-Qaeda and militants in Afghanistan fighting US and NATO troops. He said other Taleban commanders, such as Waliur Rehman, were now overshadowing him.
He did not explain why this was, though the movement has been pummeled over the last six months by US missile attacks and Pakistan army offensives that have pushed it from once-secure bases.
None of the intelligence officials explained how earlier statements that he had died were wrong.
On Feb. 10, Pakistan’s chief civilian security official, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, confirmed reports that Hakimullah was dead.