The United States has charged Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, with the US government still offering a reward of up to $5 million for information about him.

US prosecutors have said Mehsud is charged with conspiracy to kill Americans overseas after allegedly being involved in the murder of seven CIA employees in Afghanistan last December.

He has also been charged with attepting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Mehsud, who is believed to be in the tribal areas of Pakistan, is considered by military officials as being the most dangerous man next to Osama bin Laden.

US military forces have attempted to assassinate Mehsud numerous times using drone planes, but he has managed to elude death on each occasion.

Mehsud is known as the head of the group known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, which was formed in 2007 to attack the Pakistani state.

TTP members have since been involved in the Times Square bomb attempt, attacks against American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, attacks on Pakistani police and tribal elders, and the Camp Chapman bombing, in which seven members of the CIA were killed.