Taliban leader dies

The Afghan Taliban have confirmed the death of leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor after the US military announced he was the target of a drone strike in Pakistan. Mullah Abdul Rauf, a senior commander of the militant group, told Associated Press (AP) on Sunday that Mansoor died in the strike on Friday night. Rauf said the strike took place “in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area”, The Guardian reports.

The strike was carried out by multiple unmanned aircraft operated by U.S. Special Operations forces. There was no collateral damage, the US President Barack Obama authorized the strike.

On Saturday the US Department of Defense said it had conducted the strike targeting Mansoor “in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region”. It did not confirm Mansoor’s death, but an official told he was believed to have been killed along with another male in the attack, which took place south-west of the Pakistani town of Ahmad Wal.

Later this information was denied by Samaa TV channel, noting that the airstrike killed a taxi driver and his passenger, not Mullah Mansour. Taliban spokesman also denied reports about the death of movement's leader.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement that Mansour has been "actively involved with planning attacks against facilities in Kabul and across Afghanistan, presenting a threat to Afghan civilians and security forces, our personnel, and Coalition partners. Mansour has been an obstacle to peace and reconciliation between the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, prohibiting Taliban leaders from participating in peace talks with the Afghan government that could lead to an end to the conflict."

The US State Department reported that it informed the government of Afghanistan and Pakistan about conduction of the operation against Mullah Mansour.