'A night with new wife may have cost Baitullah Mehsud his life'

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.

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.

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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.

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."