US drone kills Pakistan Taleban chief Fazlullah
kabul — A US drone strike in northeastern Kunar province killed Pakistan Taleban chief Mullah Fazlullah, the insurgent leader who ordered the assassination of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, an Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman said on Friday.
In a telephone interview, Mohammad Radmanish said Fazlullah and two other insurgents were killed early Thursday morning, just hours before Afghani- stan’s Taleban began a three-day ceasefire to mark Eid holiday.
According to a statement attributed to US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Lt. Col Martin O’Donnell, the US carried out a “counterterrorism strike” on Thursday in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan targeting “a senior leader of a designated terrorist organisation”. —
kabul/peshawar — Pakistani Taleban leader Mullah Fazlullah has been killed in a US-Afghan air strike in Afghanistan, a senior Afghan defence ministry official said on Friday, a killing likely to ease tension between the United States and Pakistan.
An official at the Nato-led Resolute Support mission confirmed Fazlullah was killed on Thursday.
The US military said earlier in Washington it had carried out a strike aimed at a senior militant figure in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, which is on the Pakistani border, and one US official said the target was believed to have been Fazlullah.
Fazlullah was Pakistan’s mostwanted militant, notorious for attacks including a 2014 school massacre that killed 132 children and the 2012 shooting of schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
“I confirm that Mullah Fazlullah, leader of the Pakistani Taleban, has been killed in an joint air operation in the border area of Marawera district of Kunar province,” Mohammed Radmanish, spokesman for Afghan defence ministry, said, adding the air strike was carried out at about 9am on Thursday.
US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Martin O’Donnell said US forces conducted a “counterterrorism strike” which targeted “a senior leader of a designated terrorist organisation”.
“US Forces-Afghanistan and Nato-led Resolute Support forces continue to adhere to ... Afghanistan’s unilateral ceasefire with the Afghan Taleban,” O’Donnell said.
The government announced the ceasefire last week and it took effect this week.
“...as previously stated, the ceasefire does not include US counterterrorism efforts against (Daesh and Al Qaeda) and other regional and international terrorist groups, or the inherent right of US and international forces to defend ourselves if attacked.
“We hope this pause leads to dialogue and progress on reconciliation and a lasting end to hostilities.”
Fazlullah’s death could ease strained ties between Islamabad and Washington even as Afghanistan observes an unprecedented three-day ceasefire with the larger Afghan Taleban.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a ceasefire lasting until June 20 but on Friday suggested it could be extended.
A member of the Pakistani Taleban said by telephone the group was trying to get word from Afghanistan, where most of the Pakistani Taleban fighters are now based. Fazlullah emerged as a radical leader in the Swat Valley more than a decade ago. He was known as “Mullah Radio” for his fiery sermons broadcast over a radio channel.
He was reviled in Pakistan for the 2014 assault on an army-run school in the city of Peshawar in which Pakistani Taleban gunmen killed at least 132 children.
He is also believed to have ordered the 2012 shooting of then15-year-old Malala Yousafzai over her advocacy of girls’ education.
The Pakistani Taleban have waged a decade-long insurgency seeking to establish their rule but most of their fighters have now fled to Afghanistan.
They are separate from the Afghan Taleban who ruled Afghanistan for five years before being ousted in a 2001 US-led military action.
Washington and Kabul accuse Pakistan of harbouring Afghan Taleban and the allied Haqqani network, which Islamabad denies. Islamabad says the Pakistani Taleban maintain sanctuaries in Afghanistan.