The killing also showed just how tenuous this splinter group’s hold on power in the Tank and Dera Ismail Khan area was, Masood said, and brings into question the government’s reliance on a strategy of dividing the Mehsud tribe in order to defeat it. The army, which is in the early stages of deploying troops to South Waziristan would now have to rely more on its own fighters, he said.

Zainuddin, who in his 30s, was part of Mehsud’s tribe, but had split with him, and joined forces with Turkestan Bhaitani, an older Taliban fighter who had switched sides to ally with the government. The two men had held a tribal meeting, with as many as a hundred elders of the Mehsud tribe in the town of Tank earlier this month in an effort to rally opposition to Mehsud. Officially, the Pakistani military denies supporting Zainuddin or Turkestan Bhaitani.

Zainuddin was the cousin of Abdullah Mehsud, a top Taliban militant who was killed in 2007 when security forces raided a hideout in Baluchistan Province. He had claimed that he had the ability to take on Mehsud with the support of 3,000 fighters. “Baitullah Mehsud is not involved in jihad because Islam does not allow suicide attacks, which his group is perpetrating,” Zainuddin was quoted as saying in one interview.