Slain Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud's close aide Qari Hussain, one of his potential successors and trainer of suicide bombers, may have also died in the same US drone attack that killed the top militant commander, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Wednesday.
Intercepts of militant communications have indicated that 28-year-old Mehsud had died after being wounded in a drone attack in Shaktoi area of Waziristan tribal region, Malik told the media after appearing in a court in Peshawar.
Mehsud's close aide Qari Hussain, the head of the local Taliban's suicide bombing squad, might have also died in the same drone attack, he said.
Following reports of Mehsud's death due to injuries sustained in the January 14 US drone attack, top militants
Malik said the government will continue the war on terror till all militants are eliminated.
Taliban sources in the Aurakzai tribal region had told the media on Tuesday that Mehsud had died near Multan in Punjab province on Sunday while being taken to Karachi for medical treatment.
Hakimullah is safe, reiterates Pak Taliban