ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Taleban fighters secretly buried their leader on Saturday after he was killed by a US drone aircraft and quickly moved to replace him while vowing a wave of revenge suicide bombings.

Mehsud’s vehicle was hit after he attended a meeting of Taleban leaders, a Pakistani Taleban fighter said, adding that Mehsud’s body was “damaged but recognizable.” His bodyguard and driver were also killed.

He was secretly buried under cover of darkness in the early hours by a few companions amid fears that his funeral might be attacked by US drones, militants and security sources said.

“Every drop of Hakimullah’s blood will turn into a suicide bomber,” said Azam Tariq, a Pakistani Taleban spokesman.

“America and their friends shouldn’t be happy because we will take revenge for our martyr’s blood.” Mehsud took over as leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taleban in 2009. The group’s two previous leaders were killed in attacks by US missile-firing drones.

Taleban commanders said they wanted to replace him with the movement’s number two, Khan Said, who is also known as Sajna.

Said is believed to have masterminded an attack on a jail in northwest Pakistan that freed nearly 400 prisoners in 2012 and a big attack on a Pakistani naval base.

But some commanders were unhappy with the choice and wanted more talks, several militants said, indicating divisions within the Pakistani Taleban, an umbrella group of factions allied with the Afghan Taleban and battling the Pakistani state in the hope of imposing Islamist rule. Mehsud was in his mid-30s and had a sharp face framed by a beard and a tangle of long hair, usually flowing from beneath a traditional Afghan hat.

Despite his reputation as an uncompromising commander, Pakistan’s new government had vowed to try to stop the violence through peace talks and it reacted angrily to his death.

Residents of Miranshah, the capital of the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, said Pakistani Taleban fighters were converging on the town and firing furiously at drones buzzing high in the sky.

About eight drones were seen overhead as well as a larger aircraft that seemed to be an aeroplane or a type of drone that residents said they had not seen before.

“We thought it was a C-130 aircraft but it was a special spy plane, bigger in size,” resident Farhad Khan said by telephone from Miranshah. “The militants fired from their anti-aircraft guns to hit it but couldn’t.” Shops and markets were open in the town. Residents said they were worried about a possible army offensive but not Taleban reprisals. They expected the militants to launch attacks elsewhere in Pakistan.

“We feel the militants will show their reaction in major cities like they usually do,” said resident Assadullah Dawar.

The Pakistani army has launched numerous operations in the country’s northwest in a failed attempt to subdue the group, which aims to topple Pakistan’s democratic system. It also seeks an end to the country’s unpopular alliance with the US Pakistan’s government, which took office in June, has pushed peace talks with the Taleban as the best way to end the conflict, although many people are skeptical a deal is possible.

Azam Tariq, the Pakistani Taleban spokesman in the South Waziristan tribal area, provided the first official confirmation of Mehsud’s death Saturday.

“We are proud of the martyrdom of Hakimullah Mehsud,” Tariq told The Associated Press by telephone. “We will continue our activities.”

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and adviser to the Obama administration who helped craft the agency’s drone campaign, said Hakimullah Mehsud’s death was “a serious blow to the Pakistani Taleban which may spark internal fractures in the movement.” Afghan Taleban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid mourned Mehsud’s death in a statement and criticized the “cowardly American attack” that killed him. The Afghan and Pakistani Taleban are allies but have mostly focused their attacks on opposite sides of the border.

Pakistani officials regularly criticize the attacks as a violation of the country’s sovereignty, but the government is known to have supported some strikes in the past.

“We have properly understood the duel policy of the Pakistani government and its hypocrisy,” the Pakistani Taleban spokesman said Saturday.