Pakistan summons US ambassador to protest Taliban leader's death

            
The Pakistani government summoned the U.S. ambassador to protest over the death of Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone strike, it said on Saturday.  
           
A statement from the Foreign Office said Friday's strike was "counter-productive to Pakistan's efforts to bring peace and stability to Pakistan and the region."               

This comes after a Pakistani Taliban fighter said that leader Hakimullah Mehsud's body was "damaged but recognizable" after a US drone strike hit his vehicle, in the first eyewitness account of his death.                 

Security officials have said Mehsud and three others were killed on Friday in the Taliban stronghold of Miranshah.                 

Mehsud, who had a $5 million bounty on his head, has been reported killed by drones before. He took over as leader of the Pakistani Taliban in 2009 after its two previous leaders were killed in drone strikes.                  

Taliban commanders said Mehsud's funeral would be held on Saturday and commanders were debating his replacement.                  

Mehsud was head of the Pakistani Taliban, an insurgent group that has beheaded Pakistani soldiers and killed thousands of civilians in suicide bombings. The group also directed a failed attempt to bomb Times Square in New York.                   


REUTERS