Afghan official: U.S. airstrike kills Pakistani Taliban leader

A U.S. drone strike in northeastern Afghanistan killed the Pakistani Taliban chief mostly known for ordering the assassination of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, an Afghan defense spokesman announced Friday. Mohammad Radmanish said the Thursday morning strike killed Mullah Fazlullah and two other insurgents in the northeastern Marawara district near the Afghan border with Pakistan. The airstrike came just hours before the Afghan Taliban began a three-day ceasefire to honor the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan.

U.S. Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell confirmed the strike targeted “a senior leader of a designated terrorist organization” but did not name Fazlullah. The Taliban chief led the 2012 assassination attempt against Yousafzai after she criticized the group and called for girls education. His extremist group, Tehrik e-Taliban, also claimed responsibility for the 2014 attack on the Pakistani Army Public School that killed more than 140 children and their teachers.