Islamist Website Confirms Militant Leader's Death

Tahir Yuldash in an undated photograph

A website linked to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) appears to confirm the death of Tahir Yuldash, an Al-Qaeda-linked Uzbek militant and Central Asia's most wanted Islamist fighter.

The website furqon.com has posted a series of photographs showing the body of a man whom it describes as Yuldash, aslo known as Yuldashev.

It also carries a statement saying Yuldash was killed a year ago in a U.S. drone attack.

It said the information had been kept secret as the IMU was engaged in fierce fighting against "Islam's enemies" in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Yuldash has been declared dead several times before.

In 2009, Pakistani intelligence officials said he was killed in a U.S. drone attack in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, but militants at the time posted videos on the Internet saying that their leader was alive.

compiled from agency reports