In this image made from video broadcast on November 7, 2013, undated footage of Mullah Fazlullah is shown on a projector in Pakistan (AP Photo via AP Video, File)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan Defense Ministry official said a US drone strike in northeastern Kunar province has killed Pakistan Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah.
Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday that Fazlullah and two other insurgents were killed early Thursday morning.
According to a statement attributed to US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman, Lt. Col Martin O’Donnell, the US carried out a “counterterrorism strike” Thursday near the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan targeting “a senior leader of a designated terrorist organization.”
The statement did not say whether the strike had killed anyone and did not identify Fazlullah as the target.
Pakistani rights activist Malala Yousufzai holds bouquets of flowers after addressing the media in Birmingham, central England on October 10, 2014. (photo credit: AFP/OLI SCARFF)
Radmanish said the attack took place in Marawara district, near the border.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
Fazlullah was the commander who planned the attack on teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head while on her way home from school in October 2012. She was attacked after speaking out against the Taliban over its interpretation of Islam, which limits girls’ access to education.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
