PESHAWAR: The chief of an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban has been killed in a US drone strike, a spokesman for the group told AFP Thursday.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, had claimed responsibility for many deadly attacks in the country, including a suicide bombing in a park in Lahore on Easter Sunday last year that killed 75 people including many children.
"Chief of our Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Umar Khalid Khorasani, who sustained serious injuries in a recent US drone strike in Afghanistan's Paktia province, succumbed to his injuries Wednesday evening," JuA spokesman Asad Mansoor told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
"At least nine close associates of Khorasani were also killed in the strike", he added.
Two US drone strikes on Monday along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan killed at least 26 people including fighters from the Haqqani network which is allied to the Afghan Taliban.
The US has increased pressure on Pakistan in recent months to crack down on the Haqqanis, who have earned a fearsome reputation for their vicious attacks on NATO troops and Afghan installations over the years.
The use of US drones has dwindled dramatically in recent years in Pakistan, where the strikes have proven extremely controversial with the public and rights groups.