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1st LD Writethru: Pakistan can't confirm Taliban leader's death in U.S. drone strike: minister

Xinhua, May 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Khan said on Tuesday that his country cannot confirm the man, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike at the weekend, was the Taliban leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.

United States President Barack Obama on Monday confirmed the death of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other leaders also said the Taliban leader was killed in the strike.

Despite repeated statements by Obama and other senior American leaders, Pakistan insists that investigation is going on to determine the identity of the slain man.

"Pakistan is waiting for DNA results to confirm that the man who died in US drone attack was Mullah Mansoor," the Pakistani interior minister said at a news conference in Islamabad.

He said a relative of Mullah Mansoor approached the Pakistani authorities to claim his body, but a decision is subject to the DNA results. He said the Pakistani officials are investigating whether the passport found at the site of the U.S. drone strike was being held by the man killed in the strike.

"I do not have any confirmation of the passport and whether the man was travelling on it or used the same? We will also investigate if there was a photo change on the passport. The passport found on Wali Mohammad's name had visas for Iran, Bahrain and UAE and was used to travel from Pakistani airports," he said.

Khan strongly condemned the U.S. drone strike as illegal, unjustified and violation of the international laws and said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will soon preside over a meeting of the National Security Council to give a response to the U.S. drones and threats of more such attacks.

The minister further said that Pakistan was not informed before the strike and said the information was shared seven hours after the drone attack.

Khan condemned the Western media campaign to malign Pakistan on the excuse of the drone strike and said how the Taliban leader could travel in a car only with a driver and without the security of Pakistani officials if the country was sheltering him.

He strongly opposed the use of force and insisted that the political process is the only solution to the Afghan problem. He said the drone strike was against the spirit of the quartet that involves Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States, adding that the quadrilateral group had categorically stated that political solution is the best option. Endit