A drone strike by the United States in Afghanistan’s Kunar province has killed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan leader Mullah Fazlullah, who was heading operations in the Swat Valley when activist Malala Yousafzai was shot in 2012, reported CNN on Friday.
Ministry of Defense spokesperson Mohammad Radmanish confirmed to CNN that Fazlullah was killed in the strike on Wednesday.
According to a statement attributed to US Forces-Afghanistan spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Martin O’Donnell, the US carried out a “counter terrorism strike” in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan targeting “a senior leader of a designated terrorist organisation”, reported The New York Times. The statement, however, did not identify Fazlullah as the target.
A statement released by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan acknowledged that its leader had been killed, reported Al Jazeera. The group accused the Afghan intelligence service National Directorate of Security of providing information for the drone strike.
In March, Fazlullah’s son Abdullah was among 20 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants killed in a US drone strike in Kunar.
Fazlullah became the leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in November 2013 following the death of Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone strike in North Waziristan.
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