A senior leader of the Sirajuddin Haqqani network was liquidated in a US drone strike in Paktika province, Afghan officials said earlier today.
According to initial reports, Sirajuddin Khadmi used to provide logistic support to militants.
“Khademi, a Haqqani network facilitator who was providing weapons for insurgents, was killed in a foreign troops drone strike in southeastern Paktika province on Wednesday night”, the provincial governor’s office said in a statement, according to Tolo News
The drone strike took place in Sarwaza district of the province and some weapons were also destroyed in the strike, the statement said.
Earlier on May 22, Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a rare US drone strike in Kuchaki area of Naushki district, over 200 kilometres from Quetta, Balochistan.
The strike had drawn stern reaction from Pakistan which termed it a violation of it’s territorial boundaries and warned the US of its implications on bilateral ties.
On the contrary, the US held the stance that it respected Pakistan’s territorial integrity but insisted that it reserved the right to continue strikes wherever it deemed necessary.
The US has carried out hundreds of drone strikes in Pakistan, mainly in the country’s border tribal regions with Afghanistan, with leaked documents showing Islamabad had quietly consented, despite publicly protesting.
On May 18, senior officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan, the United States and China had agreed to give peace a chance, saying talks remain the only option for bringing an end to the lingering conflict in Afghanistan.
