Pakistan says school attack mastermind killed by US drone

A Pakistani Taliban militant wanted for his role in a school massacre has died in a United States drone strike in Afghanistan, Pakistani and American military officials said Wednesday.

‎”It’s a huge loss to the small but most effective Taliban faction of Khalifa Umar Mansoor”, the commander said.

Cook said Khalifa, a leader of the Tariq Gidar Group, was killed in a strike that targeted members of Islamic State-Khorasan Province. It said the group is linked to the Pakistani Taliban and is based in Dara Adam Khiel, Pakistan.

Six of the group’s gunmen stormed the Army Public School and College in Peshawar in December 2014, setting off suicide bombs and firing into offices and classrooms. Mansoor also claimed an attack earlier this year on a university in northwestern Pakistan that killed 21. A Pakistani military spokesman says that a U.S. Army general confirmed the death of Taliban leader Khalifa Umar Mansoor in a phone call to Pakistan’s army chief.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the strike was conducted to safeguard USA and Afghan forces, but said it underscores common interests with Pakistan in countering terrorism. Cook wasn’t specific about what kind of aircraft was used.

“This at least fulfills Pakistan’s demand that the USA should take action against Pakistani militants, the Pakistani Taliban, sitting in Afghanistan”. Taliban sources also reportedly confirmed Mansour’s death. In the end, 141 people – mostly young children – lay dead after the gruesome attack.

Mansoor’s killing could indicate improved relations between Washington and Islamabad, allies that have had fraught ties over the years. The airstrike may help ease tensions between Pakistan and the United States that have simmered over months, peaking with the USA strike that killed Afghan Taliban leader Akhtar Mansour in southwestern Pakistan in May. Both Afghan and Pakistani officials accuse each other of sheltering militants involved in terrorist activities on their respective territory. He had pledged to attack educational institutions across Pakistan, calling them “the foundation of Pakistan’s evil, democratic system”.