Pakistan government calls for urgent talks on drone strikes after killing of Taliban leader

Interior minister calls strike on Hakimullah Mehsud ‘the death of all peace efforts’

A file photo of Pakistani Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud, whose death by drone strike has been described as 'the death of all peace efforts' (AFP)

Pakistan’s prime minister Nawaz Sharif is to chair a series of urgent security cabinet meetings to discuss a response to the CIA drone strike killing of the Taliban’s leader in the country.

The death came on the eve of a planned meeting between militants and government officials. Following the bombing on Friday, Pakistan accused the US of “murdering the hopes of peace” and said that the relationship between Washington and Islamabad would be reviewed.

Pakistan's interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the strike on the 34-year-old leader Hakimullah Mehsud was “not just the killing of one person, it's the death of all peace efforts.”

A Pakistani government delegation was due to fly to the tribal area of North Waziristan, where the attack happened, on Saturday to discuss possible peace talks with clerics representing Mehsud.

Tariq Azim, a spokesman for Pakistan’s prime minister said: “There is a strong feeling in Pakistan that every time there is a process of talks something like this happens...This has been extremely unhelpful.”

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and an Obama adviser who helped develop the drone campaign, said Mehsud's death was “a serious blow to the Pakistani Taliban which may spark internal fractures in the movement”.

A leadership struggle broke out after Mehsud's predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed by a drone strike in 2009, with it taking weeks for the group to choose a new leader.

This time round, talks to appoint a new head of the Taliban are reportedly already underway and the militants have vowed to carry out revenge attacks.

Hakimullah Mehsud was on a US most-wanted list, with a $5m reward offered for his capture or killing. He was believed to have been behind a suicide attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan, as well as a failed car bombing in Times Square, New York.