Hakimullah Mehsud killing seen as major victory by US media

"The TTP has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Pakistanis in terrorist attacks throughout the country since the group was formed in 2007," she noted.



"Mehsud was also involved in the 2009 attack on the CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan, having appeared in a video filmed before the attack with the Jordanian suicide bomber."

CNN, however, noted "This is not the first time Mehsud -- who took the reins of the Pakistani Taliban in 2009 -- has been reported killed after a drone strike. In February 2010, multiple sources said he had died after being hit in a drone strike in Pakistan a month earlier.

But reports that he was alive surfaced in April of that year, and in May 2010 he appeared in a video vowing attacks on major US cities.

Mehsud took over from Baitullah Mehsud, a fellow clan member, in 2009 after the latter was killed in a US drone strike.