A US drone strike in north-east Afghanistan has killed the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Mullah Fazlullah, according to Pakistani and Afghan officials. A spokesperson for Afghanistan’s ministry of defence said two other Taliban militants were also killed in the strike in Kunar province. Fazlullah led the insurgency in Pakistan’s Swat valley between 2007-09 and ordered some of the most shocking attacks in the country’s history, including an assault on a school that killed 132 children and the shooting of the young activist Malala Yousafzai.

“I confirm that Mullah Fazlullah, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has been killed in an joint air operation [with the US] in the border area of Marawera district of Kunar province,” Mohammad Radmanish told Reuters. A spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan said a strike had been launched against a “senior leader of a designated terrorist organisation” but did not name Fazlullah or announce the death. The US had offered $5m (£3.8m) in March for information about his whereabouts.(theguardian)…[+]