AP, Isamabad :
The foreign affairs adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister said Thursday that “all indicators” confirmed that the former Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a U.S. drone strike in the country’s southwestern Baluchistan province, where he was travelling under a false name with fake Pakistani identity documents.
At a news conference in the capital, Islamabad, Sartaj Aziz said authorities were awaiting DNA test results, after which Mansour’s body will be handed to his relatives.
Mansour had entered Pakistan from Iran under a false name, with a Pakistani ID card and passport, Aziz said. He refused to elaborate, saying that Pakistani authorities were still investigating the reason for Mansour’s trip to Iran.
Local authorities have detained two officials from southwestern Baluchistan who helped Mansour obtain his Pakistani national identity card, the interior ministry said.
Aziz condemned the U.S. drone strike, saying it was a “violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty” and said Pakistan had “conveyed our serious concern to the United States on this issue.”
The drone attack had “undermined the Afghan peace process,” Aziz said, but he added that he still believed that the way to resolve the Afghanistan’s conflict is through negotiation.
The foreign affairs adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister said Thursday that “all indicators” confirmed that the former Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a U.S. drone strike in the country’s southwestern Baluchistan province, where he was travelling under a false name with fake Pakistani identity documents.
At a news conference in the capital, Islamabad, Sartaj Aziz said authorities were awaiting DNA test results, after which Mansour’s body will be handed to his relatives.
Mansour had entered Pakistan from Iran under a false name, with a Pakistani ID card and passport, Aziz said. He refused to elaborate, saying that Pakistani authorities were still investigating the reason for Mansour’s trip to Iran.
Local authorities have detained two officials from southwestern Baluchistan who helped Mansour obtain his Pakistani national identity card, the interior ministry said.
Aziz condemned the U.S. drone strike, saying it was a “violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty” and said Pakistan had “conveyed our serious concern to the United States on this issue.”
The drone attack had “undermined the Afghan peace process,” Aziz said, but he added that he still believed that the way to resolve the Afghanistan’s conflict is through negotiation.
