'Taliban head Mehsud Is Dead' , officials think so...

US and Pakistani officials have said they are checking reports that the leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, has been killed.

He is said to have died in a missile attack on the home of a relative.

A US official said there was "reason to believe reports of his death may be true, but it cannot be confirmed".

Family members have already confirmed that one of Mehsud's wives was killed when a US drone attacked her father's home in South Waziristan on Wednesday.

Previous reports of his death have proved to be unfounded.

South Waziristan is a stronghold of Mehsud, who has been blamed by Pakistan for a series of suicide bomb attacks in the country.

About 2,000 people have died in such attacks across the country since July 2007, when government forces besieged and captured a radical mosque in Islamabad from Mr Mehsud's loyalists.

Since then, the Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for some of the worst attacks, but have denied any role in the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi in December 2007.

However, previous reports of his death have proved to be unfounded.

The missile fired by the US drone hit the home of Mehsud's father-in-law, Malik Ikramuddin, in the Zangarha area, 15km (9 miles) north-east of Ladha, at around 0100 on Wednesday (1900 GMT Tuesday).

Locals said afterwards that several of Mehsud's relatives were injured. But, Pakistani officials have since said they believe that aside from the Taliban leader's second wife, at least one other person was killed.

On Friday, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said his country's security forces believed Mehsud was among the dead.

"We suspect he was killed in the missile strike," he told the Reuters news agency. "We have some information, but we don't have material evidence to confirm it."

An US official said "There is reason to believe that reports of his death may be true, but it cannot be confirmed at this time."