KABUL/PESHAWAR – Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah has been killedin a U.S.-Afghan air strike in Afghanistan, a senior Afghan DefenceMinistry official said on Friday, a killing likely to ease tension betweenthe United States and Pakistan.An official at the NATO-led Resolute Supportmission in Afghanistan confirmed Fazlullah was killed on Thursday.
The U.S. military said earlier in Washington it had carried out a strikeaimed at a senior militant figure in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar,which is on the Pakistani border, and one U.S. official said the target wasbelieved to have been Fazlullah.
Fazlullah was Pakistan’s most-wanted militant, notorious for attacksincluding a 2014 school massacre that killed 132 children and the 2012shooting of schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was later awarded the NobelPeace Prize.
“I confirm that Mullah Fazlullah, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has beenkilled in an joint air operation in the border area of Marawera district ofKunar province,” Mohammad Radmanish, spokesman for Afghan defense ministry,told Reuters, adding the air strike was carried out at about 9 a.m. onThursday.
U.S. Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Martin O’Donnell saidU.S. forces conducted a “counter-terrorism strike” which targeted “a seniorleader of a designated terrorist organization”.
“U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and NATO-led Resolute Support forces continue toadhere to … Afghanistan’s unilateral ceasefire with the Afghan Taliban,”O’Donnell said.
The government announced the ceasefire last week and it took effect thisweek.
“…as previously stated, the ceasefire does not include U.S.counter-terrorism efforts against (Islamic State and al Qaeda) and otherregional and international terrorist groups, or the inherent right of U.S.and international forces to defend ourselves if attacked.
“We hope this pause leads to dialogue and progress on reconciliation and alasting end to hostilities.”
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a ceasefire lasting until June 20but on Friday suggested it could be extended.