PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A prominent Pakistani militant commander was killed in a U.S. drone strike at a house in Pakistan’s northwest tribal region Thursday, a senior security official said.
The militant, Badar Mansoor, who led his own group of fighters, was affiliated with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan — an umbrella organization representing the many shades of Pakistani militants — and al-Qaeda, the official said.
“He was one of the main militant commanders out there,” said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Mansoor, said to be in his late 20s, was among five people killed when two missiles struck the house in Miram Shah, the capital of the North Waziristan tribal agency.
A local official in Miram Shah who spoke on the condition of anonymity said he also believed Mansoor had been killed.
The strike comes as fraught relations between Pakistan and the United States, which have been virtually frozen since U.S. warplanes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in a disputed border attack in November, have been slowly warming.
Mansoor has been accused of attacks that have killed dozens of Pakistanis, and by midevening, Pakistani officials had not spoken out against the strike.
The New York Times
