Mullah Fazlullah, leader of the Pakistani Taliban has been killed. He was killed in neighbouring Afghanistan’s Kunar province according to a statement issued by the Afghan defence ministry on Friday.
“I confirm that Mullah Fazlullah, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has been killed in a joint air operation [with the US]in the border area of Marawera district of Kunar province,” Mohammad Radmanish, spokesman for Afghan defence ministry, told Reuters news agency, adding the air attack was carried out at about 9am local time on Thursday.
In a separate statement to the Associated Press news agency, Radmanish said that two other armed fighters were killed alongside Fazlullah. “US forces confirmed that they were targetting a leader of what they say was a known terrorist group.”
“The Afghan defence minister though does say that Mullah Fazullah was killed in Kunar province, in that US drone strike,” she added, noting however that this was difficult to independently verify at this state due to the remoteness of Kunar province.
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (known by the acronym TTP) acknowledged that its leader had been killed, according to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.
In March, Fazlullah’s son, Abdullah, was among 20 TTP armed fighters killed in a US drone attack also in Kunar.
