Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud (C) sits with other militants in South Waziristan, in this file still image taken from video shot October 4, 2009 and released October 5, 2009.

Hakimullah Mehsud, the chief leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has been killed by a U.S. drone attack in North Waziristan on Friday Nov 1, according to Al Jazeera. Four other security officials have also confirmed Hakimullah's death to Reuters as well. The sources also confirmed that his driver and bodyguard were also killed.

One of the intelligence sources said that a large number of people had been killed in the drone attack. Tariq Mehsud, the personal bodyguard of Mr Hakimullah, and Abdullah Mehsud, his driver, were among the people who got killed, the source said. Kamal Hyder from Al Jazeera reported from Islamabad that the killing of the leader had also been confirmed by the Taliban of the country.

Mr Hakimullah was the most wanted person in Pakistan as leader of the Pakistani Taliban. The U.S. government put a price of $5 million on his head. In 2009, Pakistani authorities too declared a reward of fifty million Pakistani rupees for any information which led to his capture.

This is, however, not the first time when Mr Hakimullah was presumed to be dead. There were several earlier reports of Mr Hakimullah allegedly being killed. He became the chief of the Pakistani Taliban in 2009 after his mentor, Commander Baitullah Mehsud, had been killed in a CIA drone attack.

The Pakistani Taliban must have suffered a real setback in the form of Mr Hakimullah's death as his name was identical with ever-increasing insurgency in Pakistan, a 180-million country which is nuclear-armed. U.S. drone attacks killed the second-in-command of Mr Hakimullah. One of his most trusted lieutenants was also captured in October.

The death of the Pakistani Taliban chief further instigates the debate over possible peace talks between Nawaz Sharif and the Taliban. Mr Sharif had an extra-ordinary win in the May election and became the present prime minister of Pakistan, forming the new government. One of his biggest promises was to supress insurgency in the country. On the other hand, the Sharif government did not issue any comment on the reported death of Mr Hakimullah even though it criticised the U.S. drone attack as usual.