JALALABAD, Afghanistan/PESHAWAR, Pakistan, June 15 (Reuters) - P akistani Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah has been killed in a U.S.-Afghan air strike in Afghanistan, a senior Afghan Defence Ministry official said on Friday, a killing likely to ease tension between the United States and Pakistan. The U.S. military said in Washington on Thursday it had carried out a strike aimed at a senior militant figure in Kunar province near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and one U.S. official said the target was believed to be Pakistan Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah. “I confirm that Mullah Fazlullah, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has been killed in an joint air operation in the border area of Marawera district of Kunar province,” Mohammad Radmanish, spokesman for Afghan defence ministry, told Reuters, adding the air strike was carried out at about 9 a.m. on Thursday.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense reports that Mullah Fazlullah, the emir of the Pakistani Taliban, was killed in Kunar province by an U.S. drone strike two days prior on June 13.