New Pakistan Taliban Leader After Drone Strike

The Pakistani Taliban's number two commander has been promoted to leader after its previous chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike.

Khan Said, also known as Sajna, now heads the militant group following a meeting of the supreme ruling council, according to security officials.

However, some commanders were reportedly unhappy with the choice and wanted more talks.

The move comes as the fallout from the strike continues to grow, with Pakistan summoning the American ambassador to register a protest.

Pakistan's interior minister Chaudhry Nisar accused the US of "scuttling" attempts to get the Taliban to take part in peace talks.

He said "every aspect" of co-operation with Washington would be reviewed in the wake of the attack.

"The murder of Hakimullah is the murder of all efforts at peace," said interior minister Chaudhry Nisar. "Americans said they support our efforts at peace. Is this support?"

Hakimullah Mehsud (c) seen with other Taliban militants in a video in 2009

Khan Said is believed to have masterminded an attack on a jail in northwest Pakistan in 2012 that freed nearly 400 prisoners, as well as an assault on a Pakistani air force base in the same year.

Previous leader Mehsud had a $5m (£3.1m) US government bounty on his head and was one of Pakistan's most wanted men.

He has been buried after being killed on Friday along with four associates when a drone targeted his car in a compound in the country's North Waziristan tribal district.

The Pakistani Taliban has vowed revenge for the killing, with spokesman Azam Tariq saying: "Every drop of Hakimullah's blood will turn into a suicide bomber.

"America and their friends shouldn't be happy because we will take revenge for our martyr's blood."

The death comes at a politically sensitive time and follows months of debate over potential peace talks between the Taliban and the new government of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who swept to a landslide victory in May elections.

Pakistan's government has been trying to cut a peace deal with the militants to end years of fighting that has killed thousands of Pakistani civilians and security forces.

The government reacted angrily to Mehsud's killing, with information minister Pervez Rashid saying: "The US has tried to attack the peace talks with this drone but we will not let them fail."

A Pakistani Taliban fighter said Mehsud's body was "damaged but recognisable". His bodyguard and driver were also killed.

The US offered the $5m bounty after he appeared in a video with a Jordanian suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees at a base in Afghanistan in 2009.

Mehsud, said to be aged in his mid-30s, was also believed to be behind a failed car bombing in New York's Times Square in 2010, as well as brazen attacks inside Pakistan.

His killing is the latest in a series of setbacks for the militant group.

A drone strike in May killed Mehsud's number two, Waliur Rehman, and one of his most trusted lieutenants was captured in Afghanistan last month.

The group, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is an umbrella organisation founded in December 2007 following a deadly military raid on the radical Red Mosque in Islamabad.

The TTP officially swears allegiance to Mullah Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, who ruled Kabul from 1996-2001, but the two groups are separate, with independent command structures.

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