Striking a body blow to the Taliban, missiles fired from US drone killed Pakistan's most wanted terrorist Baitullah Mehsud and his wife on Friday. They had taken shelter in Mehsud's father-in-law's house in Makeen area of South Waziristan.
Quoting intelligence inputs, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, "Authorities are going to the site of the missile strike to verify the Taliban leader's death."
"According to my information, this news is correct and he (Mehsud) has been taken out. Our reports are based on the internal intelligence inputs. We will be 100 per cent sure when we get the physical verification," Qureshi told reporters on the sidelines of an official function in Islamabad.
The US drone fired two missiles at the compound of Mehsud's father-in-law, a cleric named Malik Ikramuddin on Wednesday. Earlier reports had said Ikramuddin's daughter, who is Mehsud's second wife, was killed along with some militants.
Though Pakistani ministers and US officials were trying to get the verification, TV channels quoted sources in the tribal areas as saying that the 'Shura' or supreme council of the Pakistani Taliban had met on Thursday and would gather again on Friday evening, possibly to chose Mehsud's successor.
Taliban might own up 35-year-old Mehsud's death only after choosing a new chief for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella of militant factions.
US predator drones have been relentlessly hunting for Mehsud and other top Taliban leaders in the NWFP and FATA region.
Pakistan's leaders say he is the country's top internal security threat.
Mehsud has threatened to attack the US several times and the US State Department has offered a 5 million dollar bounty for him.
He was also believed to be behind he conspiracy to assassinate former Pakistan PM Benazir Bhutto.
