No decision yet on new Taliban chief appointment: TTP S.Waziristan

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WANA: Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) South Waziristan spokesman Maulana Azam Tariq has confirmed the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone strike, Geo News reported Saturday.

Maulana Tariq said the decision to appoint new TTP chief has not yet been made. He said Majlis-e-Shura will choose the new chief within 2-3 days.

AFP Adds: The Pakistani Taliban's supreme ruling council met Saturday to choose a new leader after a US drone strike killed Hakimullah Mehsud.

The TTP's supreme shura, or decision-making council, met Saturday to decide who should now lead the network.

"The members of the supreme shura are taking opinions from all the shura members and senior commanders," a Taliban commander told AFP.

"The decision may take more time because the shura members are constantly changing the meeting place."

Militants in the tribal areas move around frequently to avoid the attentions of the US drones that hover in the sky almost continuously.

More than five names are under consideration to take over from Mehsud. They include Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani, the head of the central shura and Khan Said, known by the alias Sajna, who became number two after Wali-ur-Rehman's death in May.

Also in the frame is Maulana Fazlullah, known sometimes as Mullah Radio, a radical cleric who led Taliban's hardline two-year rule in the Swat Valley which ended in a military operation in 2009.