We’ve learned to take these reports with a grain of salt. Pakistani Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud was supposedly killed (on more than one occasion) until he popped up last week on a video executing Colonel Imam of the ISI.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — An Iraqi al-Qaida operative was believed to be one of 15 militants killed in two U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan’s tribal belt along the Afghan border Monday, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The officials said the man, identified as Abu Zaid al-Iraqi, handled the terrorist group’s finances in Pakistan. He was not known to be on any published U.S. lists of wanted al-Qaida leaders, and U.S. officials do not normally acknowledge the existence of the CIA-led missile program or talk about who is being killed.

The two strikes, coming roughly 24 hours apart, were the first since the arrest of a U.S. citizen who shot two Pakistanis in late January. There had been speculation that Washington had put a hold on the disputed tactic while it pressured Pakistan to release the American, saying he has diplomatic immunity and acted in self-defense.

In the first strike, which occurred overnight Monday, three missiles hit a house in the village of Kaza Panga in the Azam Warsak area of the South Waziristan tribal region, said two intelligence officials.

Al-Iraqi was believed to be one of several foreigners among the seven dead. He was described as being in his late 30s and going by the local name “Ali Khan.” Al-Iraqi is believed to have shifted to South Waziristan in 2008 after time spent in Afghanistan.

The officials said they learned of his death through agents on the ground in South Waziristan, as well as sources in the Taliban. Nonetheless, independent confirmation of such deaths is nearly impossible because of the remote, dangerous nature of the areas involved. Rarely are bodies made available as proof.