Terror chief in ‘death by drone’
BRITISH special forces stalked the “most wanted”Taliban leader before they called in a drone strike to kill him, the Daily Star Sunday can reveal.
SAS and US Delta Force commandos trapped Mullah Fazlullah, the head of the Taliban in Pakistan, on Friday.
After locating the terror commander in the border region of Kunar province in eastern Pakistan, the unit called the drone into the “kill box”.
The team, codenamed Coalition Joint Special Operation Task Force 44, had received intelligence that Fazlullah had crossed into Afghanistan in late May to meet up with local Taliban commanders.
The special forces operation was launched at the start of June with more than 40 British and American troops being flown in.
Two Chinooks landed at five different locations to confuse any watching Taliban informers as to where the troops were actually dropped off prior to starting their top-secret mission.
A strike team led the operation with a second team protecting the advance force. As well as Fazlullah, the drone strike killed five of his henchmen, disrupting the Taliban’s command and control network.
It will allow the Afghan National Army to regain influence in the area. Coalition chiefs have more than 25 high-value targets in their sights. They include Hibatullah Akhundzada, head of the Afghanistan Taliban, who tops the “most-wanted” list.
In the past year British and US forces have deployed across Afghanistan in pursuit of Taliban and Islamic State fighters, with Coalition commanders recently asking for more troops to be sent to the region.
A senior source said: “This is a critical setback for the Taliban. Fazlullah was fundamental in pushing forward their campaign of violence against the Coalition to show Islamic State that the Taliban are in control.
“Our technology is advancing at speed and allows us to track, target and deliver extremists without exposing where our operators are on the battlefield.”
Meanwhile, more than 100 heavily armed Royal Engineers have flown to the African state of Niger. They are due to cross the border into neighbouring Mali where they will build a base for RAF Chinooks.
The helicopters will support a high-risk French special forces mission against Islamic State rebels who fled to the region from Syria.