Mastermind of Pakistan school massacres killed by U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 13 July 2016 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Mastermind of Pakistan school massacres killed by U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan, 13 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57a43c7ae.html [accessed 29 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
July 13, 2016
A video released by a faction within the Pakistani Taliban on January 22 shows their leader, Umar Mansoor (center), with militants delivering a statement from an undisclosed location.
Pakistan's military says that the mastermind of a 2014 attack on a Pakistani school that killed about 150 people, mainly children, has been killed by a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan.
Pakistani Army spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa said on July 13 that a U.S. Army general had confirmed the death of Taliban leader Khalifa Umar Mansoor in a phone call to Pakistan's army chief, General Raheel Sharif.
The Pentagon on July 13 confirmed the report, saying Mansoor was killed on July 9 by an air strike in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar along with four other militants.
Mansoor, also known as Umar Naray and Khalid Khurasani, had claimed responsibility for training and dispatching a Taliban suicide squad to the school in Peshawar.
The attack killed about 150 people, 144 of them children.
Mansoor also planned an attack on a university in northwestern Pakistan earlier in 2016 that killed 21 students and teachers.
Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and Dawn
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
