The Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has surived an attack by the U.S. Army on Thursday. An unmanned aircraft fired two missiles at a training camp of the Taliban in northwestern Pakistan. A spokesman for the radical Islamic rebels later said that Mehsud had escaped.
Pakistani government officials said, however, that it is still unclear whether Mehsud was killed. Certainly twelve Taliban fighters were slain during the U.S. air strike in the very troubled Waziristan region.
The spokesman said Mehsud stayed in the camp, but that he had left before the missiles were fired. “He is alive and entirely in safety” said the spokesman. He did not say whether Mehsud has left Waziristan.
Mehsud has led the Taliban in Pakistan since last summer. He then followed on Baitullah Mehsud, who died during a rocket attack on the house of his wife’s family.
