DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Intelligence officials and militants say Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud is alive and was not killed by a U.S. missile strike.
The missiles slammed into a former school where Pakistani Taliban leaders were meeting Thursday. Twelve people were killed in the North Waziristan tribal region neighboring Afghanistan.
Reports quickly circulated that Mehsud died.
However, three intelligence officials and four militants told The Associated Press that he was alive. The officials said they gleaned the information from wireless communications intercepts. It was unclear whether Mehsud was ever at the meeting.
The sources all spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
