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1st LD Writethru: Pakistan confirms killing of Mullah Mansoor in U.S. drone strike

Xinhua, May 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

Pakistan on Thursday for the first time confirmed Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mansoor's death in a recent U.S. drone strike in the country's southwest remote area along the Pak-Afghan border region.

Addressing a press conference held here on Thursday, the Pakistani prime minister's foreign affairs advisor Sartaj Aziz confirmed that one of the two men killed in last Saturday's U.S. drone strike in the country's Balochistan Province was Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.

The body of Mullah Mansoor is still in the custody of Pakistan and will be handed over to the concerned after the DNA test of the body is completed, Sartaj Aziz told the press briefing.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said a relative of Mullah Mansoor, who has blood relationship with Mansoor, had come forward to claim the body of a man named Wali Muhammad who got killed together with a local driver named Muhammad Azam in the U.S. drone strike over the weekend.

The Pakistani Interior Ministry has confirmed the passport carried by Wali Muhammad is fake and the picture of Wali Muhammad bears great resemblance to Mullah Mansoor, reported local media.

Pakistan has refused to confirm the death of Mullah Mansoor in the U.S. drone strike even after U.S. President Barack Obama and the Afghan government have both announced his death.

Pakistan's confirmation of Mullah Mansoor's death on Thursday came only a day after Afghan Taliban had confirmed his death on Wednesday.

Mullah Mansoor was killed by the U.S. drone strike on Saturday afternoon (Pakistan time) when he was traveling in a vehicle near a small town named Ahmad Wal in Balochistan Province which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

Mullah Mansoor entered Pakistan from Iran through the border city of Taftan on May 21, 2016 with a valid Iranian visa, according to a recent statement of the Pakistani Foreign Ministry.

A cousin of the driver who got killed together with Mullah Mansoor in the U.S. drone strike told local media that three missiles were fired at the vehicle they were traveling in and two missiles missed the target and one hit the vehicle. Endit