TOKYO/WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama will not apologise for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on his landmark visit this week, he told Japanese public broadcaster NHK in an interview. When asked if he would include an apology in his remarks he plans to make there, he said: “No, because I think that it’s important to recognise that in the midst of war, leaders make all kinds of decisions.” In another development US President had confirmed the death of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a drone attack on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, an international news agency reported. He said, “Death of Mullah Mansour is a milestone for peace in Afghanistan. We have finished off leader of a group which would attack the US and its allies”. No confirmation has come as yet from Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif regarding reports that that Mullah Akhtar had been killed in the drone attack yesterday. The drone strike has tensed relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan yet again, since Islamabad has referred to the episode as an attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty. Pakistani parliamentarians have also submitted resolutions in the National Assembly and Provincial (Punjab) Assembly as protest of these attacks. PM Nawaz made a statement in London yesterday that the drone strike was carried out during the day and he was informed of it by night. He also said that he had talked to the army chief General Raheel Sharif about the drone strike after they were informed of it by Kerry’s phone call. Pakistan’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs said that a passport was found at the site, bearing a different name and carried a valid Iranian visa. It added that the purported passport holder was believed to have returned to Pakistan from Iran on Saturday, the day of the drone strike targeting Mullah Akhtar. However, US Secretary of State John Kerry had claimed that he had informed Pakistan’s leadership of the drone strike. Mullah Akhtar’s killing will most likely trigger a succession battle among the Taliban, as various groups within the banned outfit will want to fill his shoes. He rose to command the Taliban after former Taliban chief Mullah Omar was announced dead in 2015, two years after his death.