US strike kills Taliban leader

Brought down: Rescuers removing the bodies of two people killed in the US drone strike in Noshki, Baluchistan province, Pakistan. — EPA

KABUL/WASHINGTON: The United States has killed the leader of the Afghan Taliban in an airstrike in a remote border area just inside Pakistan, Afghanistan said, in an attack likely to dash any immediate prospect for peace talks.

The death of Mullah Akhtar Mansour could trigger a battle for succession and deepen fractures that emerged in the insurgent movement after the death of its founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, was confirmed last year, more than two years after he died.