Major US airstrike targets Taliban leader Mullah Mansoor

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Pentagon says US airstrike has targeted Taliban leader Mullah Mansour.Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour

The Pentagon has announced that the U.S. has conducted an airstrike targeting Taliban leader Mullah Mansoor. One American official says the U.S. believes Mansour was killed in what was a drone strike authorized by President Barack Obama.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the attack occurred in a remote region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. He said the U.S. was studying the results of the attack, leaving Mansoor’s fate unclear.

But a U.S. official not authorized to publicly discuss the operation said Mansoor and a second male combatant accompanying him in a vehicle were likely killed.

The official said the attack was carried out by unmanned aircraft operated by U.S. Special Operations Forces. The official said the operation occurred at about 6 a.m. EDT southwest of the town of Ahmad Wal.

Story by the Associated Press