Unconfirmed reports: TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah killed in US drone strike

Four commanders also killed in Kunar attack

PESHAWAR: The elusive chief of outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has reportedly been killed in a US drone strike in northeastern Afghanistan, according to security and intelligence sources.

Mullah Fazlullah, who was named TTP chief after the death of Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone strike in November 2013, is said to have been killed in the drone strike in Kunar province of Afghanistan.

The drone strike that took place in the Nur Gul Kalay village of Dangam district on June 13 also killed four other TTP commanders who have been identified as Abu Bakar, Umar, Imran and Sajid.



Fazlullah and his commanders were having an Iftar party at a compound when a remotely piloted US aircraft targeted them, according to sources.

The drone strike coincided with a whirlwind visit to Kabul by army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa where he threw his weight behind the fresh peace overture of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Though the drone and the target have been confirmed by the Western media, the death of Mullah Fazlullah has not been officially confirmed by Islamabad, Kabul or Washington.

"US forces conducted a counter terrorism strike on June 13 in Kunar province, close to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which targeted a senior leader of a designated terrorist organisation," a US military official confirmed to CNN that the target was TTP chief.

.@USFOR_A: "US forces conducted a counter-terrorism strike, June 13, in Kunar province, close to the border between Afghanistan & Pakistan, which targeted a senior leader of a designated terrorist organization." A US military official tells CNN the target was a TTP emir

— Ryan Browne (@rabrowne75) June 14, 2018

The TTP, however, has not confirmed the death of its chief in the drone strike yet.

Mullah Fazlullah, who has been designated as a global terrorist by the United States and carried a bounty of $5 million, had been on the run since his loyalists were routed in a major military operation in Swat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in 2009.



The cleric and his cohorts had unleashed a bloody campaign to impose their own hardline version of Islamic sharia in Swat.

Mullah Fazlullah had also claimed responsibility for the methodical killing of over 140 pupils and teachers at the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014.