ISLAMABAD, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Taliban said the group has named Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud as the new chief and Mufti Mazaham alias Mufti Hazratas his deputy after confirming the death of Mullah Fazlullah by a U.S. drone attack.
Wali, who belongs to South Waziristan region, was earlier serving as deputy of the group.
In a statement released on Saturday, Taliban spokesman Mohammad Khorasani confirmed the death of Fazlullalh in the U.S. drone attack on June 13.
Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said earlier that Fazlullah's death was a serious blow to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Pakistani security officials had stated that the drone fired missiles on the vehicle of the Taliban leader after he visited a center of the Pakistani Taliban militants in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province bordering Pakistan.
Four guards of Fazlullah were also killed in the attack.
Pakistan insists that Fazlullah had regrouped Pakistani militants in Afghanistan's border regions after they fled to the neighboring country in recent years.
TTP had carried out a series of terrorist attacks in Pakistan under Fazlullah's leadership, including the 2014 attack on an army-run school in Peshawar, which left 145 people, mostly children, dead.
