The United States has refused to confirm the death of Harkatul Jihad al-Islami chief Ilyas Kashmiri in a recent drone strike in Pakistan's South Waziristan region.

Replying to a question about the confirmation of Kashmiri's death by Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, US State Department Deputy spokesman Mark Toner said: "We have no confirmation" about Kashmiri's killing.

Toner's comments came in the wake of Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik's recent statement that he is "98 per cent sure" that Kashmiri was among those killed in a US drone attack in South Waziristan. "All ground intelligence shows that he is dead. What I can say is there is a 98 per cent chance he is dead," Malik was quoted as saying.

"Since we do not have the body. We do not have the DNA we need to confirm. This is the substantive evidence we are looking for," he added.

 Kashmiri, who had reportedly arrived in South Waziristan from the Khyber tribal region, was said to be killed in the drone strike that killed at least nine militants.

 The chief of the HuJI, an organisation affiliated with Al-Qaeda, was widely believed to have masterminded the recent attack on the PNS Mehran naval base in Karachi.