WASHINGTON (Pajhwok): A US airstrike killed Taliban border area, the Pentagon announced late on Saturday night, adding it was still accessing the results.
“Today, the Department of Defense conducted an airstrike targeting Mullah Mansour in a remote area of the Afghanistan–Pakistan border region,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.
Mansour, who became Taliban’s leader after the death of the group’s founder and long time supremo, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had been actively involved in planning attacks against facilities in Kabul and across Afghanistan, presenting a threat to Afghan civilians and security forces, American 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,” Cook said.
Since the death of Mullah Omar and Mansour’s assumption of leadership, the Taliban have conducted many attacks resulting in the death of tens of thousands of Afghan civilians and Afghan security forces as well as numerous US and coalition personnel, he said.
“We are still assessing the results of the strike and will provide more information as it becomes available,” Cook said.
A senior commander of the Afghan Taliban confirmed to The Associated Press (AP) on Sunday that the extremist group’s leader, Mullah Mansour, had been killed in a US drone strike.
Mullah Abdul Rauf, who recently reconciled with Mansour after initially rebelling against his ascension to the leadership, told the news agency that Mansour died in the strike late Friday “in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area.”
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