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Taliban chief dies in US drone strike

MALALA ATTACKER WAS MILITANT GROUP GUNMAN

THE president of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani confirmed last Friday (15) that Pakistani Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah had been killed in a US drone strike.


Fazlullah is believed to have ordered the failed 2012 assassina­tion of Malala Yousafzai, the stu­dent activist who became a global symbol of the fight for girls’ rights to schooling. She later won the Nobel Peace Prize.

US forces targeted Fazlullah in a counter-terrorism strike last Thursday (14) in eastern Kunar province, close to the border be­tween Afghanistan and Pakistan, US officials said.

“I spoke with prime minister of #Pakistan Nasir ul Mulk and chief of army staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and confirmed the death of Mullah Fazlullah,” Ghani tweeted, adding: “His death is the result of tireless human intel led by #Afghan security agencies.”

Ghani added the Pakistani leaders had assured him the strike was “a great step toward building trust between the two nations,” while urging them to “bring (the) Afghan Taliban residing in Paki­stan to the negotiation table”.

Pakistan has long been accused of supporting the Afghan Tali­ban and providing safe haven to its leaders, charges Islamabad denies. Pakistan, in return, has accused Afghanistan of shelter­ing the Pakistani Taliban.

The Pakistani army called Fa­zlullah’s apparent death a “posi­tive development”.

Fazlullah’s group – Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – was be­hind the massacre of more than 150 people at a Peshawar school in December 2014, and the death of nine in another attack in De­cember 2017 in the same city.

He went into hiding in Afghan­istan in 2009. His death “gives re­lief to scores of Pakistani families who fell victims to TTP terror in­cluding the (school) massacre,” the Pakistani army statement added.

But the Pentagon would not confirm Fazlullah’s death, saying it can take time to gather defini­tive proof.

Top militant leaders have been reported dead before, only to lat­er resurface.

“We targeted (Fazlullah) but we’re not ready to call jackpot yet,” a US defense official said.

As a schoolgirl, Yousafzai was an activist who chronicled her life under the Taliban. She became a global symbol for human rights af­ter a gunman boarded her school van on October 9, 2012, asked “Who is Malala?” and shot her.

The Pakistani Taliban accused her of “anti-Islamic” activities and of “smearing” the militant group in statements after the attack.

Yousafzai was treated for her injuries in Birmingham, England, where she also completed her schooling. She is currently a stu­dent at Oxford University. (AFP)

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