Afghan government CEO says Taliban leader Mansour dead

Afghan government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah issued the highest level confirmation on Sunday that Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour had been killed in an attack by U.S. drones in Pakistan a day earlier.

"Taliban leader Akhtar Mansour was killed in a drone strike in Quetta, Pakistan, at 04:30 pm yesterday. His car was attacked in Dahl Bandin," Abdullah said in a tweet, referring to a district in Pakistan's Baluchistan province just over the border with Afghanistan.

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Afghanistan's main intelligence service, the National Directorate for Security also said that it had confirmed Mansour's death. There has been no confirmation from U.S. authorities or the Taliban.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour posed a "continuing imminent threat" to U.S. personnel in Afghanistan and to Afghans, and was a threat to peace.

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," Kerry said.

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