Islamabad, Aug 18 (DPA) A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban who was arrested by security forces a day ago told investigators that top militant leader Baitullah Mehsud had died in a US missile attack, intelligence officials said Tuesday.

Maulvi Omar of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a loose alliance of more than a dozen militant groups, was Monday night detained in Mohmand district in the country's ungoverned tribal belt that borders Afghanistan.

'Maulvi Omar and two of his colleagues were moving towards Bajaur (district) in a car when troops assisted by militiamen cornered them,' an intelligence official said on condition of anonymity. He did not identify Omar's associates.

Omar used to claim credit for most of the terrorist attacks carried out by the Taliban militants across Pakistan. However, he stopped calling reporters in recent months after government forces stepped up counterinsurgency operations in the lawless tribal region.