White House: Cant confirm death of Hakimullah Mehsud

We cannot comment on Hakeemullah Mehsuds death because we dont have any information on it, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.He said that the stories on Mehsud’s death originated from Pakistani intelligence officials.He said that there was no communication from Pakistan about the parliamentary committee recommendations on relationship with US.Earlier, a foreign news agency quoted Pakistani intelligence officials as saying that they intercepted militant radio communications indicate leader of Pakistani Taliban may have been killed in a recent US drone strike.A Taliban official denied that.The claim that the Pakistani Taliban chief was killed came from officials who said they intercepted a number of Taliban radio conversations. In about a half a dozen intercepts, the militants discussed whether their chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed on Jan 12 in the North Waziristan tribal area. Some militants confirmed Mehsud was dead, and one criticized others for talking about the issue over the radio.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to reporters.Pakistani Taliban spokesman Asimullah Mehsud denied the group’s leader was killed and said he was not in the area where the drone strike occurred.