Obama confirms death of Taliban leader

US President Barack Obama confirmed that the leader of the Afghan Taliban Akhtar Mansour had been killed in an the US air strike.

"We removed the leader of an organization that has continued to plot against and unleash attacks on American and Coalition forces, to wage war against the Afghan people, and align itself with extremist groups like al-Qaeda," Agence France Press cited him as saying.

Obama called Mansour’s death “an important milestone".