ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A suspected U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan, Pakistan, killed Janbaz Zadran, a senior commander of the brutal Haqqani militant group, U.S. officials said.
The officials told The New York Times Zadran was the third-ranking leader of the Taliban-linked group, which is accused of using its safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas to launch attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
Zadran, also called Jamil, was killed in the drone strike near Miram Shah, the main town in North Waziristan.
"His death in Miram Shah makes him the most senior Haqqani leader in Pakistan to be taken off the battlefield," one U.S. official told the Times.
CNN quoted a senior Obama administration official as saying, "It's been confirmed that Janbaz Zadran, aka Jamil, was killed earlier today in North Waziristan, Pakistan."
In the Thursday drone strike, two missiles targeted a house and a vehicle, killing Zadran and three other people. Another drone strike in neighboring South Waziristan killed three more people, the Times reported.
Zadran was part of the Haqqani hub in Miram Shah, who linked with the group's fighters in Afghanistan, providing them with weapons and other goods, experts told the Times. The report said the Miram Shah location is like a Haqqani mini state with tax collectors, courts and fighter training schools.
Zadran was a top aide to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the network's operational commander. Sirajuddin is the son of the group's patriarch, Jalaluddin Haqqani, who fought the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
U.S. pressure on Pakistan to go after the Haqqani network is one of several issues that have strained bilateral relations.
Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, had told a Senate hearing the Haqqanis are a "veritable arm" of Pakistan's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
Pakistan has denied such charges.
An ISI official told the Times he had no knowledge of the latest drone strikes.
