Taliban leader Mullah Mansur 'likely killed' in U.S. airstrike

The Pentagon said it launched an airstrike in Afghanistan Saturday targeting Mullah Akhtar Mansur, the Taliban's overall leader, ABC News reported. 

Though the Pentagon is still assessing the results of the airstrike a U.S. official said Mansur was "likely killed" in the airstrike personally authorized by President Obama.

On Sunday morning, though, senior Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Rauf told The Associated Press that Mansur had been killed in the airstrike.

Peter Cook, the Pentagon's Press Secretary in a statement released Saturday. "Today, the Department of Defense conducted an airstrike that targeted Taliban leader Mullah Mansur in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region."

Cook continued, "Mansur has been the leader of the Taliban and actively involved with planning attacks against facilities in Kabul and across Afghanistan, presenting a threat to Afghan civilians and security forces, our personnel, and Coalition partners. We are still assessing the results of the strike and will provide more information as it becomes available."

A U.S. official said that although the assessment of the airstrike is ongoing "Mansur was the target and was likely killed." The strike was carried out at 6 a.m. ET by multiple unmanned U.S. military drones as Mansur and another Taliban fighter drove in a vehicle in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, southwest of the town of Ahmad Wal. The other adult male combatant in the vehicle was also likely killed in the airstrike that the official said did not cause any collateral damage.

Source : MENA