His pick-up truck had apparently developed a fault in Angoor Adda, near South Waziristan's main town of Wana.

BBC: Pakistan militant Mullah Nazir killed 'in drone attack'

These videos are for sale a mile and a half from the major Pakistani Army base in Wana.

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Yar Mohammad, a resident of Wana who witnessed the attack, told the Associated Press news agency that the blast was huge.

BBC: Mullah Nazir - 2007 - pic from Wana

At the same time, he managed to keep Wana away from the media limelight, thanks mainly to an absence of reporters in the area.

BBC: Taliban's Mullah Nazir death spells trouble for Pakistan

Officials say two missiles were fired at a house in the village of Shah Alam in the Birmal sub-district of Waziristan, 12km (eight miles) west of Wana.

BBC: Air raid 'kills nine' in Pakistan

In Wana, a two-road town 40km from the Afghan border, surrounded by orchards and a vast FC camp, Syed Shahab Ali Shah explains the system that he runs.

ECONOMIST: Waziristan

From the officers' mess of the South Waziristan Scouts, the FC's Wana-based contingent, formed in 1899, it is tempting to think Waziristan has hardly changed since those colonial days.

ECONOMIST: Waziristan

Many fear that Mullah Nazir's death may upset this balance, especially if the fourth faction in the region, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group (TTP), is able to force an advantage in Wana region.

BBC: Taliban's Mullah Nazir death spells trouble for Pakistan

In March 2007, Pakistani forces based in the Wana region backed Mullah Nazir's offensive against ethnic Uzbek fighters, who not only fought the Pakistanis, but were blamed for the killing of more than 200 elders of the native Wazir tribe.

BBC: Taliban's Mullah Nazir death spells trouble for Pakistan