WASHINGTON/KABUL: Reports surfaced on Thursday claiming Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Mullah Fazlullah’s death following a drone strike in Afghanistan’s Kunar province by the United States (US) military.
According to US officials, the military had targeted TTP’s chief.
Lieutenant-Colonel Martin O’Donnell US spokesperson for Afghanistan said that “US forces conducted a counterterrorism strike, June 13 in Kunar province, close to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan that targeted a senior leader of a designated terrorist organization.”
However, an anonymous US official told Voice of America that the strike late Wednesday night had targeted Fazlullah. He added that the TTP chief’s status was unclear as no reports came in over Fazlullah’s death or the strikes.
Previously the US had placed a $5 million bounty for information on Fazlullah.
However, earlier the Afghan Taliban and Security forces had announced a ceasefire owing to Eid holidays. The US forces had said that the ceasefire would be respected, but the counter-terrorism operations against terrorists outfits would prevail despite the ceasefire.
TTP has been an influential terrorist group that was globally banned. The group was involved in APS december 2014 attack killing 132 children.
The banned group had also claimed to have attacked Malala Yousafzai, an 11 year old women education advocate.
The US has been fighting terrorist outfits in Afghanistan since the initiation of war on terror in 2001.