Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah has been killed in a US-Afghan air strike in Afghanistan, a senior Afghan Defence Ministry official said.
The US military said it had carried out a strike aimed at a senior militant figure in Kunar, which is on the Pakistani border.
A US official said the target was believed to be Fazlullah.
Mullah Fazlullah famously ordered the attack leading to the shooting of Malala in 2012
Pakistan’s ‘most-wanted’ militant also masterminded a school massacre that killed 132 children
A coffee shop in Islamabad in 2013 when Mullah Fazlullah was elected leader of the Taliban
Fazlullah was notorious for attacks that included the 2012 shooting of schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 2014, Pakistan’s most-wanted militant led school massacre that killed 132 children.
A spokesman for Afghan defence ministry told Reuters:
‘I confirm that Mullah Fazlullah, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has been killed in an joint air operation in the border area of Marawera district of Kunar province.’
The air strike was carried out at about 9am on Thursday.
Malala, seen left opening a library in Birmingham in 2013, later received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014
Soldiers shift injured Malala, then 14, from a helicopter after the attack by gunmen in Peshawar
Fazlullah’s death is likely to ease tension between the United States and Pakistan.
Afghanistan is currently observing an unprecedented three-day ceasefire with the larger Afghan Taliban.
Pakistan is considered key to persuading Afghan Taliban leaders, who Washington believes shelter on Pakistani soil, to open negotiations to end the 17-year-old war.
Video grabs of ‘hardliner’ Fazlullah who had a reputation for fiery radio broadcasts
In March, the United States offered a $5 million (£3.75 million) reward for information on Fazlullah.
A member of the Pakistani Taliban told Reuters on Friday the group was trying to get word from Afghanistan, where most of the Pakistani Taliban fighters are based.
‘We have been hearing since early Friday that our Emir (leader) was martyred along with four other militant commanders in Marawar area of Kunar.
‘They were staying at a house when a drone fired missiles and martyred them,’ said Taliban member Maulvi Abdur Rasheed.
Fazlullah emerged as an Islamist leader in the Swat Valley, northwest of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, more than a decade ago.
He was known as ‘Mullah Radio’ for his fiery broadcasts.
He was reviled in Pakistan for the 2014 assault on an army-run school in the city of Peshawar in which Pakistani Taliban gunmen killed at least 132 children.
He is also believed to have ordered the 2012 shooting of then-15-year-old Yousafzai over her advocacy of girls’ education.
The Pakistani Taliban have waged a decade-long insurgency seeking to establish a harsh interpretation of Islamic rule but most of their fighters have now fled to Afghanistan.
They are separate from the Afghan Taliban who ruled Afghanistan for five years before being ousted in a 2001 U.S.-led military action.
Washington and Kabul accuse Pakistan of harbouring Afghan Taliban and the allied Haqqani network, which Islamabad denies. Islamabad says the Pakistani Taliban maintain sanctuaries in Afghanistan.