Islamabad  - A US airstrike in Pakistan's tribal badlands in late August killed an Uzbek militant leader linked with al-Qaeda, intelligence officials said Friday, but the Taliban claimed Tahir Yuldashev was still alive.

Yuldashev, a senior leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, was critically wounded on August 27 when missiles fired from a US drone struck a house in the Kanigoram village in the South Waziristan district bordering Afghanistan, intelligence officials said.

"Yuldashev succumbed to critical limb wounds after five days on September 1," said an intelligence official, who insisted on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

But Qari Hussain, a prominent Pakistani Taliban commander in Waziristan, said Yuldashev was alive.

"I categorically deny the reports that he was killed in the attack," Hussain said by phone from an undisclosed location.

Hussain said Yuldashev was injured and was undergoing medical treatment.

However, another Pakistani security official contradicted the Taliban claim, asserting "the man is dead for certain."

The English-language Dawn newspaper said Yuldashev founded the Uzbek militant group together with Jumaboi Ahmedzhanovitch Khojaev in 1998.

His real name was Tahir Abdouhalilovitch Yuldashev, but he was known as Qari Farooq in the South Waziristan region, where he found a safe haven after fleeing the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

According to Dawn, a purported bodyguard of Yuldashev had confirmed in a phone call made to the international radio station Radio Liberty in late September that the Uzbek militant was dead.

The apparent confirmation of Yuldashev's death in the US drone attack came days after Pakistani intelligence officials said a similar strike killed another senior Uzbek militant leader, Najmiddin Jalolov, alias Yahov.

Jalolov, leader of the Islamic Jihad Union, was killed September 14 when a US drone targeted his vehicle in Mir Ali, one of the main towns of North Waziristan, the officials said.

Pakistan's tribal areas, especially the Waziristan region, are known as al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctuaries. (dpa)