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1st LD Writethru: Taliban leader Mansoor likely killed by U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan-Pakistan border

Xinhua, May 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor was likely killed in a U.S. airstrike on Saturday "in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region", TV networks reported.

The Pentagon confirmed the airstrike in a statement, noting that the U.S. military was still assessing the results of the strike taking place around 6 a.m. Eastern time.

Mansoor was likely dead in the strike which had been authorized by U.S. President Barack Obama, a U.S. official told CBS News on condition of anonymity.

The strike, carried out by multiple drones operated by the U.S. Special Operations Forces, targeted a vehicle carrying Mansoor and another male passenger, also believed to be likely killed, in the southwest of Ahmad Wal, a town in western Pakistan, the official was quoted as saying.

Mansoor has been "actively involved with planning attacks against facilities in Kabul and across Afghanistan... and prohibiting Taliban leaders from participating in peace talks with the Afghan government that could lead to an end to the conflict." said Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook in the statement.

Mansoor had been an aide to Taliban's iconic longtime leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and a Taliban transportation minister.

He emerged as the Taliban leader in 2015 following the news broke that Omar had died in 2013. Endit