Mullah Dadullah was a regional commander of the Pakistani Taliban group Tehrik-e-Taliban
Afghan Air Strike Kills Senior Pakistani Taliban Leader
The U.S.-led military force in Afghanistan says a senior leader of the Pakistani Taliban has been killed in a coalition airstrike.
Coalition spokesman Major Martyn Crighton says the strike on August 24 in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province killed Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban leader in Pakistan's Bajur tribal area.
Bajur lies across the border from Kunar.
According to Wasifullah Wasif, the spokesperson for the Kunar Governor, Dadullah was among 12 insurgents killed in a drone strike in the province's Shaigal district:
The death of Dadullah was confirmed by Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that Maulana Abubakar has been appointed as new the Amir of the TTP for Bajuar Agency. He sais Abubakar would "continue the mission of Mullah Dadullah and other slain TTP leaders."
Dadullah had carried out attacks against Afghan and coalition forces and was responsible for moving fighters and weapons.
He took over as leader of the Taliban in Pakistan's Bajaur tribal area earlier this year, replacing previous commander, Maulvi Faqir Mohammad
Police chief Sayed Rahman of Kunar's Shigal district said most of the militants killed on August 24 were from neighboring Pakistan. Pakistani intelligence officials said Dadullah and 19 others were killed in the attack.
Initially, they said the strike was on Pakistani territory, but later they conceded it was in
Afghanistan.
Separately, Ihsan denied reports of the death of any key leader of the TTP in other drone attacks in North Waziristan Agency on August 24.
Earlier on August 25, "The New York Times" reported that Badruddin Haqqani, the operational commander of the Haqqani network, was believed to have been killed on in a drone strike in North Waziristan the previous day.
According to the BBC, Badruddin's relatives said that he had died last on August 21 in North Waziristan.
The death has not been confirmed by U.S. or Pakistani officials.
Badruddin Haqqani is the second son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, head of the Haqqani Network.
RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal is a public-service broadcaster providing a powerful alternative to extremist propaganda in Pakistan's remote tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan.
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