By Syed Shoaib Hasan
BBC News, Islamabad
**The Taliban in Pakistan have released the first visual evidence that their former leader Baitullah Mehsud is dead.**A short video received by the BBC shows the body of Mr Mehsud - the former head of the largest Taliban group in Pakistan - lying in a room.
Mr Mehsud was killed on 6 August in a missile attack by a suspected US drone.
US and Pakistani officials were quick to claim his death. It took three weeks for the Taliban to admit he had been hurt in the attack and had later died.
The video shows Baitullah Mehsud lying on a flat surface in a room, amid virtual silence.
His entire body is covered in a white funeral shroud, so it is difficult to tell how his body was injured in the attack.
There are no marks on his face, except for a few scratches near his nose.
A man is shown in the video crouching near the body clearly stricken with grief.
The video, which lasts nearly two minutes, has little audio. Two sentences are spoken.
A voice, apparently that of the video maker, says: “If there was a leader, there would have been some preparations.”
Later, the same voice says: “May Allah destroy these cruel people who do not use rifles and Allah knows what else, to kill us.”
Pakistan’s government publicly condemns drone attacks, arguing that they fuel anti-American feeling, but many observers say Islamabad secretly endorses the tactic.
Hundreds of militants and civilians have been killed in dozens of such attacks in the past year.