ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Thursday confirmed that Mullah Fazlullah, the dreadedchief of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has been killed in Afghanistan’srestive Kunar province, calling it a “significant” development.

“Yes, we confirm it….,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal toldreporters in Islamabad at his weekly media briefing. This was the firstofficial confirmation of Fazlullah’s death by Pakistan.

A spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, Lt Col Martin O’Donnell, lastweek said that the US forces had conducted a strike close to the border ofPakistan, targeting the “Emir” of the group.

Afghan Ministry of Defense spokesman Mohammad Radmanish later said thatFazlullah, who is believed to be in his forties, was killed in the USstrike.

TTP has not yet announced the news of the death of its leader.

“The killing of the terrorist Mullah Fazlullah, who has been directingterrorism against Pakistan, is a significant development in fightingterrorism,” Faisal said.

“The news of his death has been received in Pakistan with relief,especially by the families whose loved ones were victims of TTP’s terroristattacks, including the APS (army public school) massacre,” he said,referring to the killing of 150 people, mostly students, in a Talibanattack in Peshawar in 2014.

Fazlullah, also known by the alias Radio Mullah or Maulana Radio due to hislong sermons on a private radio channel, had been a major figure in the TTPeven before he became emir in late 2013.

He was the man in charge of the TTP operations in Pakistan’s restive SwatValley when student activist Malala Yousafzai was shot in 2012.

He was designated as a global terrorist by the US and carried a bounty ofUSD 5 million. He had been on the run since his loyalists were routed in amajor military operation in Swat district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in2009.

Fazlullah had directed numerous high-profile attacks against the US andPakistani targets since he was appointed the group’s leader in 2013,including the December 2014 attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar.

In 2014, there were reports that Fazlullah had been killed. However thatinformation turned out to be false. In 2010, similar news about his deathhad broken out but later proved false.

Faisal said Pakistan’s position regarding peace and stability inAfghanistan is clear and well known.

“We believe that the only viable solution to the conflict in Afghanistanlies in an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process. Pakistan supports allefforts made to bring about lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan,” hesaid.

He said the ceasefire between the Afghan government and the Taliban on theeve of Eid was a step in the right direction, which Pakistan supported.