The leader of the Taliban in Pakistan has been killed in a US drone strike in north-eastern Kunar, the Afghan defence ministry said.
Mullah Fazlullah was Pakistan’s most-wanted militant, notorious for being linked to attacks including a 2014 school massacre that killed 132 children and the 2012 shooting of schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In March, the United States offered a $5m reward for information on Fazlullah.
Fazlullah emerged as an Islamist leader in the Swat Valley, north-west of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, more than a decade ago. He was known as “Mullah Radio” for his fiery broadcasts.
He was reviled in Pakistan for the 2014 assault on an army-run school in the city of Peshawar in which Pakistani Taliban gunmen killed at least 132 children.
He is also believed to have ordered the 2012 shooting of then-15-year-old Yousafzai over her advocacy of girls’ education.
The Pakistani Taliban have waged a decade-long insurgency seeking to establish a harsh interpretation of Islamic rule but most of their fighters have now fled to Afghanistan.
They are separate from the Afghan Taliban who ruled Afghanistan for five years before being ousted in a 2001 US-led military action.