A high-up member of the Pakistani Taliban was killed Wednesday by an American drone strike, two Pakistani intelligence officials and a Pakistani Taliban commander in the tribal area of North Waziristan told the Washington Post.
But the militant group's official spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan said that he could not confirm the second-in-command Taliban leader's death.
"I have no such information," he said in a phone interview with the Washington Post.
Officials in North Waziristan who asked to remain anonymous said four people were killed in the drone strike, if not more. One of the deceased was reported to be Wali ur-Rehman, who was a top aid to the Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud.
Rehman's death would mean huge problems for the Pakistani Taliban group, which is currently fighting against the state government to instate militant Islamic law. But it is possible that Rehman's death was wrongly announced- this would not be the first time a militant leader was incorrectly reported dead or killed by drone strikes, the Washington Post said.
Three children were injured in the drone strike that was deployed Wednesday. Local police and government officials said that at least two other militant leaders were killed.
Intelligence and tribal leaders claimed a United States drone set off two missiles into a house in the northern city of Miranshah. The blast killed at least four, and wounded four others.
The CIA did not comment on the drone strike.
During his major policy speech last week, President Barack Obama said that the U.S. would try to avoid firing missiles at targets that pose an "imminent threat," in hopes of limiting civilian casualties that inevitably occur in these types of strikes.
Pakistani security analyst Muhammad Amir Rana said with the information given so far, Wednesday's strike goes along with the United States' augmented policy.
"We will see such limited drone strikes happening in future, but with much more accountability and care being taken that only terrorists are taken out," he told the Washington Post.
