Peshawar school massacre mastermind killed in US drone strike

The mastermind of the December 2014 Peshawar Army Public School massacre that claimed the lives of 144 innocent students and staff members, Umar Mansour, has reportedly been killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan.

Two senior security officials claim that Umar Mansour, alias Khalifa Mansour, alias Umar Naray, had been killed, along with another militant leader Qari Saifullah, in a U.S. drone attack in the Bandar area of Afghanistan's Nangarhar province on Saturday, reports the Dawn.

One of the officials said they had credible reports of Mansour having been killed with Saifullah, who was in charge of suicide bombers saying "What we have is pretty credible."

There was, however, some confusion over the death of Qari Saifullah.

The US State Department had on May 25 designated Mansour a global terrorist, thus clearing the path for his inclusion in the hit-list.

However, there is neither any official confirmation from the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) about Mansour's death.

"The focus would now be on getting Abdul Wali, alias Omar Khalid Khurasani, and Maulvi Fazlullah, also believed to be in Afghanistan," the officials said.