The drone attack occurred at a madrassa, or religious school, said Pakistani intelligence and local officials in North Waziristan. The school had been converted into a training camp for militants, the officials said.

That attack came a few days after Mehsud appeared in a video released by the Pakistani Taliban. In it, he sits next to Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the man thought to be the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers and consultants and a Jordanian army captain at a base in eastern Afghanistan on December 30.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack.