Pakistan's Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud has been appointed the new head of the militant group.

Pakistani Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud (C) talks with a group of media representatives in 2008.[file photo]

Taliban leadership said a 42-member Taliban council made the appointment because Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was ill.

Other sources claim Baitullah Mehsud is dead. Pakistani authorities say the Taliban commander has been behind threats to foreign embassies in Islamabad and that there is a 120-thousand US dollar bounty on his head.

He claimed responsibility for the June 9th bombing of a hotel in Peshawar, and the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore earlier this year. His men have also been blamed for attacking US and NATO supply convoys.