Reuters quoted Pakistani intelligence officials as saying today they believed Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud was alive, contradicting earlier comments that he was killed in a CIA-operated drone aircraft strike. Mehsud was widely believed to have been killed in the Taliban bastion of South Waziristan near the Afghan border in January. A Pakistani intelligence official said it was now believed that Mehsud had survived the attack."Yes, he is alive," a senior intelligence official told Reuters. A second Pakistani intelligence official said he also believed that Mehsud survived the missile strike, though there was no hard evidence to confirm it. "Initially, our intelligence in the field suggested that he was killed from the wounds he sustained in the strike but we have made checks and our intelligence has now concluded that he was wounded, not dead. It's all based on intelligence." -- SPA
