Confirming the death of commander Umar Mansoor, the alleged mastermind of the 2014 Peshawar attack, the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) have elected Usman Mansoor as their new chief.
“We confirm the death of Khalifa Umar Mansoor, and Khalifa Usman Mansoor Hafizullah will be replaced as the faction’s commander in Darra Adam Khel and Peshawar, the TTP said in a statement sent to journalists via email on Wednesday.
According to sources, he was wounded in a drone strike carried out in Paktia province of Afghanistan on Tuesday, and moved to an undisclosed location by his accomplices. He succumbed to his injuries today.
According to Reuters, Mansoor got a high school education in the capital, Islamabad and later studied in a madrassah. He spent some time working in the city of Karachi as a labourer before joining the Taliban soon after it was formed, in late 2007.
Reports of his death had emerged in 2016 as well, which could not be confirmed.
The statement came a day after two suspected US drone strikes killed 11 people on the mountainous Pakistan-Afghanistan border, following a strike a day earlier that killed 20.
