London: It was probably his desire to spend a night with his second wife that proved fatal for Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone attack at his father-in-law`s house, a media report said on Sunday.
35-year-old Mehsud had taken the risk of spending the night with his second wife around 1 am last Wednesday, `The Sunday Times` reported.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan commander had four daughters from his first wife, but, in the tribal lands of Waziristan, it is only the birth of a boy that is greeted by rifle fire and jubilation, it said.
Last November, Mehsud took a second wife, the daughter of an influential local cleric, and was spending the night with her at her father`s house in the village of Zangarha when the missiles hit, the paper said.
The report said that in the end it might have been the desire for a son that led to the Taliban leader`s demise.
A diabetic, Mehsud had been feeling poorly in the scorching summer heat of Waziristan and the local doctor was also called to give him a glucose drip, the report said.
As he lay on a couch on the roof of his father-in- law`s house tended by his new wife, a drone`s cameras locked in on him and a command was given thousands of kms away in the Nevada desert, following which two Hellfire missiles tore into the mud-walled building, it said.
Quoting a Pakistani intelligence officer based in the nearest town, Makeen, the paper said Mehsud`s torso had been "totally damaged except for his head”.
Initial reports spoke about the death of Mehsud`s wife and two of his fighters.
But suspicions were raised when a large funeral was held the next day in the nearby village of Narghasi - under local tradition bodies must be buried by sunrise the following day.
"Our information is that Mehsud, his wife and seven guards were killed," Pakistan`s Interior Minister Rehman Malik said yesterday. "But we`re still waiting for material evidence to confirm it totally."
Bureau Report
