PESHAWAR: A senior leader of the deadly Haqqani network was killed in a United States drone strike in Afghanistan's Paktika province, reports in the Afghan media said on Thursday.
The leader killed in the drone strike was Sirajuddin Khademi, a logistics commander of the Haqqani network and member of the Quetta Shura in the southeastern Paktika province, the reports said.
Assadullah Sherzad, a police commander in the southeast region told Afghan media that the drone strike targeted Khademi along with another person early in the morning.
However, the Afghan Taliban, to which the Haqqani network is linked, have not confirmed the commander's killing in the drone strike.
Earlier on May 21, chief of the Afghan Taliban Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan.
The insurgent group elected Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, a former head of the Taliban's judiciary and one of two Mansour's deputies, as their new leader.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of the Haqqani network, and Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of former leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, were appointed Akhundzada's deputies.
American officials blame high-profile attacks in Afghanistan on the powerful Haqqani network, which mainly operates out of Pakistan's border areas.
