New Delhi: A day after Pakistan Foreign Minister claimed that Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud died in a US drone attack, the extremist group said on Saturday that their chief is not dead.
In fact the Taliban claim that 35-year-old Mehsud is in hiding as part of their war strategy.
On Friday, Pakistan had claimed that Mehsud -- accused of killing Benazir Bhutto -- had died in an attack on his father in law's house in South Waziristan.
"If he was killed, then this is better for Pakistan. He proved to be a very dangerous man for the country for the past two years. And according to the security agency sources, he was involved in 80 per cent of the bomb blasts," said Wajid Qazmi, a local resident.
The US says if Mehsud is indeed dead, Pakistan will be a lot safer.
"Mehsud has been responsible for a number of atrocious terrorist attacks against people from around the world frankly and we will continue to work with other countries around the world to fight and discourage terrorism," said Robert Wood, spokesman, United States State Department.
Security experts say that facing a problem in electing a new chief, the Taliban could be covering up the news of Mehsud's death.
Taliban insist that Mehsud is safe and says a video showing him alive will be released soon. Till then confusion and suspense over the death of Pakistan's most wanted terrorist.