WORLD BRIEFING

A suspected U.S. missile strike killed a wife of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mahsud at his father-in-law’s house, Pakistani intelligence and military officials said.

Mahsud associates acknowledged that a woman was killed but would not confirm her identity. They said Mahsud was not at the South Waziristan home during the attack, which authorities said also killed a second person.

Two intelligence officials and one army official, who all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters, said the missile strike had destroyed the home of Mahsud’s father-in-law, Akramud Din, and that two people had been killed, including the second of Mahsud’s two wives. Under Islam, men are allowed to have as many as four wives.