Pakistan said today it had information suggesting Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud had died of wounds inflicted in a US drone aircraft attack in January.
But in a reminder of the danger posed by the militants, even if, as looks increasingly likely, their leader is dead, a suicide car-bomber killed 19 people in the Khyber region on the Afghan border.
Eleven policeman, a soldier and seven civilians were killed when the bomber rammed his vehicle into a police patrol, said regional government official Rehan Khattak.
The bomber struck in Jamrud town, on the road leading through the Khyber Pass to the Afghan border. Television showed a burnt-out car on a blood-soaked street blocking trucks.
Speculation has swirled over the Taliban leader's fate since January 14th when security officials said a missile-firing US drone had targeted him. A drone was believed to have attacked him again three days later, officials said.
"I have credible information that he's dead," interior minister Rehman Malik told reporters.
Those saying the militant commander was alive should prove it, said the minister, who mistakenly said in August Mr Mehsud had been killed in a Taliban power struggle.
The army, which has a limited presence in large parts of the mountainous, ethnic Pashtun border lands, said it could not confirm Mr Mehsud's death.
Two Taliban officials, including a senior commander, called Reuters earlier in the day to deny that Mr Mehsud had died.
Rumours about his fate intensified yesterday when another Taliban official, requesting anonymity, told journalists the leader had died of wounds while being taken to Karachi.
The death of Mehsud, notorious for his ferocity, could temporarily disrupt the Taliban campaign of bomb attacks.
The Pakistani Taliban, allies of the Afghan Taliban, have lost much ground in military offensives over the past year. Mehsud's predecessor was killed in a drone strike in August.
But the Taliban are part of a network that includes groups from Punjab province and has a presence in most parts of the country. That network remains intact..
The US drone strikes aimed at Mr Mehsud last month came after a video emerged showing him with a Jordanian double agent bomber who killed seven CIA employees in Afghanistan on December 30th.
In Washington, a US counter-terrorism official said yesterday he could not confirm Mehsud's death but it was up to the Taliban to prove he was alive.
One of the two Taliban officials who denied he was dead was Noor Jamal, a little-known commander Pakistani newspapers said could succeed Mehsud.
Reuters