Afghanistan's main spy agency has said that Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US drone attack inside Pakistan yesterday.
"Mansour was being closely monitored for a while until he was targeted along with other fighters aboard a vehicle in Balochistan," the National Directorate of Security said in a statement.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said Mansour posed a "continuing imminent threat" to US personnel in Afghanistan and to Afghans, and was a threat to peace.
US officials in Washington yesterday said US missile-firing drones had attacked Mansour and probably killed him in a strike in southwest Pakistan, near the Afghan border, authorised by US President Barack Obama.
Speaking in Myanmar, Mr Kerry said: "Yesterday, the United States conducted a precision airstrike that targeted Taliban leader Mullah Mansour in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Mansour posed a continuing, imminent threat to US personnel and Afghans.
"This action sends a clear message to the world that we will continue to stand with our Afghan partners as they work to build a more stable, united, secure and prosperous Afghanistan."
Mr Kerry said the leaders of both Pakistan and Afghanistan were notified of the air strike but he declined to elaborate on the timing of the notifications, which he said included a telephone call from him to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
"Peace is what we want. Mansour was a threat to that effort and to bringing an end to the violence and suffering people of Afghanistan have endured for so many years now.
"He was also directly opposed to the peace negotiation and to the reconciliation process," Mr Kerry said.
