Pakistan Says Taliban Leader Is Alive

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud wasn't killed in a U.S. drone strike in January as previously suspected by the government, Pakistan intelligence officials said Thursday.
Officials said Mr. Mehsud was seriously wounded in the strike and has been sidelined by injuries, leaving another senior commander in charge of the group.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik and other senior officials had said in January they believed Mr. Mehsud died in the strike. A senior intelligence official involved in the operation said Mr. Mehsud was with half a dozen militants when the attack occurred, all of whom died. "Initially it appeared that no one had survived," he said.

Intelligence officials reported that the militants were choosing a new leader, but officially shied away from confirming Mr. Mehsud's death. In February, midlevel Taliban fighters said their chief was dead, but the group's spokesman denied it.
"It's only now that we've been able to confirm that he's still alive," a Pakistan intelligence official said.
The lack of clarity about the fate of Mr. Mehsud has underlined how Pakistan and its U.S. allies are often unable to gather credible intelligence on the inner workings of the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies in the mountainous tribal areas on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The U.S. had acknowledged reports of Mr. Mehsud's death, but never confirmed it. "If Hakimullah really is alive, let him prove it," said a U.S. counterterrorism official. "He never had a problem going before the cameras. But, for the past few months, he's nowhere to be seen.… His absence is the Taliban's problem, not ours."
Pakistani military intelligence officials said they believe Taliban commander Wali ur Rehman is now the de facto head of the group and has been coordinating attacks.

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Mr. Rehman was involved in a gun battle with supporters of Mr. Mehsud for control of the group last fall when a previous leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed by a U.S. drone strike, Pakistan's government said.
Talat Masood, a security analyst and former Pakistan army general, says Mr. Mehsud's survival won't affect the strength of the Pakistan Taliban, as Mr. Rehman is believed to be running the group.
Mr. Masood, however, cast doubts on how Pakistan's military intelligence knows the fate of Mr. Mehsud without being able to locate him. "If they know all this why don't they just kill him?" he said.
The Pakistan military, aided by U.S. drone strikes, has since last year killed many Pakistan Taliban leaders and largely driven the group out of South Waziristan, their former stronghold. But the group has continued to mount suicide bomb attacks across Pakistan and offer refuge in the tribal areas to the Afghanistan Taliban who are battling U.S. forces across the border.
The U.S. is urging Pakistan to concentrate its fight on North Waziristan, a tribal area where many Taliban leaders, including Mr. Rehman, are believed to be based. Pakistani generals say they are concerned about overstretching their forces after offensives last year against the Taliban in the Swat Valley and South Waziristan.