Pak Taliban deputy chief killed in drone strike

The deputy chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Khan Said Mehsud, is believed to be killed in a drone strike in the Margha Area of Barmal in Afghanistan.

At least two sources confirmed that Mehsud was killed along with his nephew and two guards.

"The vehicle was completed destroyed," an intelligence official told The Express Tribune, adding that there were at least three reported drone strikes on the Pak-Afghan border in the last 24 hours.

Mehsud, who was the head of the Mehsud faction of the TTP, has been replaced by Maulvi Khatir, who is the new acting chief of the terrorist organisation.

The United States listed Mehsud on its designated terrorist list in 2014.

Mehsud became the deputy chief of TTP after Waliur Rahman's death in 2013. He reportedly had fought in Afghanistan and was believed to be involved in the attack on PNS Mehran in Karachi in 2011, which killed 18 navy personnel.

He is also the alleged mastermind of a jailbreak, where he freed over 400 inmates from a prison in Bannu in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in 2012. 

--ANI