November 2, 2013 -- Updated 1301 GMT (2101 HKT)
The death of Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud will not delay
peace talks between Pakistan's government and the militant group,
Information Minister Pervez Rasheed says. FULL STORY
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REPORTS: TALIBAN LEADER KILLED
Pakistan summons U.S. envoy after death of Pakistan Taliban leader
November 2, 2013 -- Updated 1612 GMT (0012 HKT)
Taliban leader killed, replacement named
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- U.S. ambassador to Pakistan is called to the Foreign Ministry, spokesman says
- U.S. and Pakistani officials say Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud died in a drone strike
- A new chief has been approved, a journalist familiar with the Pakistan Taliban says
- Government peace talks with the Pakistan Taliban will not be delayed, minister says
A discussion has already
taken place, Foreign Ministry spokesman Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry told CNN.
He did not explain why the envoy was summoned.
The U.S. Embassy declined to comment.
Earlier, Pakistani
Information Minister Pervez Rasheed insisted that Mehsud's death would
not delay proposed peace talks between the government and the Pakistan
Taliban, amid concern that anger about the strike might derail the
process.
Rasheed condemned the use
of drones in Pakistan. "Drones are used for killing but they will not
let the peace process be killed with it," the minister told reporters.
Report: Drone strikes killing civilians
Drone victims speak out
Confessions of a former drone warrior
Mehsud, who had a $5
million U.S. bounty on his head for his alleged involvement in a deadly
2009 attack on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, was killed in a
drone strike in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, senior U.S. and
Pakistani officials told CNN.
He was buried overnight,
though the body was burned beyond recognition, Taliban sources said. The
organization was scheduled to meet Saturday to pick a new leader, the
sources said.
The Afghan Taliban
condemned the drone strike as "cowardly" and "barbaric" in a statement
posted on its website Saturday, the SITE intelligence group said. The
statement urged the Pakistani government and people to take measures to
stop the attacks.
A new leader?
No official announcement
has yet been made on who will be the new chief for the Pakistan
Taliban. But a number of names have emerged, as different factions and
individuals jockey for position.
Saleem Mehsud, a
journalist who is close to the Mehsuds and familiar with the Pakistan
Taliban, told CNN on Saturday that the central shura, or council, of the
Pakistan Taliban has approved Sheheryar Mehsud as its new chief.
Sheheryar Mehsud is from
the Jangara area of South Waziristan and belongs to the Shabikheil
sub-tribe within the larger Mehsud tribe, he said. That's the same
sub-tribe that Baitullah Mehsud, who led the Pakistan Taliban before
Hakimullah Mehsud, belonged to.
Sheheryar Mehsud, who's 33 years old, has been involved in fighting in Kashmir and Afghanistan, he said.
There are fears the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud may spark a surge in violence.
This is in part because
the attack in Afghanistan in 2009 -- in which seven U.S. citizens died
-- was launched in response to the strike that killed Baitullah Mehsud
four months earlier.
Security around
Peshawar, the capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest
Pakistan, is being beefed up as police and security brace for reprisal
attacks, Home Secretary Akhtar Ali Shah said.
"Since this drone
strike, we are waiting for a reaction," he said. "We know the reaction
will be strong. We have strengthened security in Peshawar, especially at
the entry points in to the city. We have extra security on patrol with
sniffer dogs."
Taliban stronghold
Three other people were killed in Friday's strike, Pakistani intelligence sources and tribal officials said.
They described the
incident as a suspected U.S. drone strike in a remote area of Pakistan's
North Waziristan region, a Taliban stronghold bordering Afghanistan and
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
One missile hit a compound, and another struck a car nearby, the Pakistani sources said.
This is not the first
time Hakimullah Mehsud -- who took the reins of the Pakistan Taliban in
2009 -- has been reported killed after a drone strike. In February 2010,
multiple sources said he had died after being hit in a drone strike in
Pakistan a month earlier.
But reports that he was
alive surfaced in April of that year, and in May 2010 he appeared in a
video in which he vowed attacks on major U.S. cities.
The fact that senior
Pakistani government officials have commented so quickly on the news of
his death this time adds credence to the reports.
The Pakistan Taliban,
which has long been conducting an insurgency against the Pakistani
government, claimed responsibility for the December 2009 suicide bombing
at the United States' Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost,
Afghanistan. Five CIA officers were among the seven U.S. citizens
killed, and a member of Jordanian intelligence also died.
The U.S. Justice
Department charged Hakimullah Mehsud in the summer of 2010 for his
alleged involvement in the attack, and U.S. officials offered a $5
million reward for information leading to his capture.
The group also claimed
responsibility for a failed May 2010 attempt to detonate a car bomb in
New York's Times Square. The following September, the U.S. State
Department designated the Pakistan Taliban a foreign terrorist
organization.
Mehsud took over from Baitullah Mehsud, a fellow clan member, in 2009 after the latter was killed in a U.S. drone strike.
Peace prospects
Hakimullah Mehsud's
death could make progress in proposed peace talks between the Pakistani
government and Pakistan Taliban more difficult.
A relatively young and charismatic leader, he held together a disparate group with different tribal and other allegiances.
There had reportedly been talks about him being involved in peace talks with Pakistan's government.
His killing may upset some elements within the Pakistan Taliban if they believe that the Pakistani government was involved.
The Pakistan Taliban
could also pose an increased security threat if it splinters into
smaller groups, which could be harder for security forces to detect.
There has been a series of suicide bombings in the region over the past couple of years.
CNN's Shaista Aziz contributed to this report.
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