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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At least six others died, including three children, in the blast in Wana.
He also ran an Islamic justice system complete with courts and jails in his area of control, which included Wana.
Mullah Nazir's emergence as a leader in the Wana region had the blessings of both the Pakistanis and the Afghan Taliban.
BBC: Taliban's Mullah Nazir death spells trouble for Pakistan
Yar Mohammad, a resident of Wana who witnessed the attack, told the Associated Press news agency that the blast was huge.
After November's attack on him, his faction told a rival group led by Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, to leave the Wana area.
BBC: Pakistan militant Mullah Nazir killed 'in drone attack'
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.
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.
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.
Forces also captured 18 suspects in the battle Tuesday at a compound near the town of Wana, but at least eight soldiers were killed and more than two dozen wounded, said Maj.
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
Also known as Maulvi Nazir, he survived a number of attempts on his life, the most recent being at the end of November when a suicide bomber attacked his vehicle in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan.
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
Any instability in Wana region will also be a blow to the Afghan Taliban, who will need a fully intact militant network in one of their major sanctuaries if they are to negotiate peace with the Afghan government from a position of strength.
BBC: Taliban's Mullah Nazir death spells trouble for Pakistan
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