US Drone Strike Kills Peshawar School Massacre Mastermind: Reports

Umar Mansour was also known as Khalifa Mansour and/or Umar Naray.

A Pakistani father holds a picture of his son who was killed in an attack, in front of photographs of other victims, ahead of the first anniversary of the Peshawar school attack on 16 December 2014. (Photo: AP)

The mastermind of the terror attack on a school in Peshawar, Umar Mansour alias Khalifa Mansour alias Umar Naray, was killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan, Pakistani media organisation Dawn reports.

The report cites two officials while reporting that Mansour was killed along with another militant commander named Qari Saifullah in Bandar region of Nangarhar province on Saturday.

The death of Saifullah remains unconfirmed as the officials were not sure of his presence at the site.

On 16 December 2014, terrorists opened fire in the army Public School in Peshawar, killing 144 people – 122 children and 22 staff members.

The attack that shook the country was considered the first major terrorist attack in Pakistan. After the following crackdown by the government, Mansour fled to Afghanistan.

The two terrorists belonged to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)’s Tariq Geedar group. The TTP has not yet responded to the news.

On 25 May, the US State Department declared Mansour a global terrorist, making him a prime target.

Four days before Mansour was declared as such, another drone strike had managed to kill Afghan Taliban leader Akhtar Mansour in Balochistan.