US Drone Kills Sr. Leader Of Haqqani Network In Pakistan

Islamabad, Sept 7, IRNA – A senior commander of the Taliban-linked Haqqani Network, Mullah Sangeen Zadran, was killed in a US spy aircraft strike in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region early Friday, militants and security sources said. Zadran was killed along with his guards when a US drone fired missiles on a house in Ghulam Khan area, close to the Afghan border. Sources said that Zadran was considered as the second powerful commander of Haqqani Network after its chief Siraj-ud- Haqqani. “I can confirm that Mullah Sangeen Zadran was killed along with his guards,” a militant leader said. The US State Department had added Zadran to the list of specially designated global terrorists in August 2011. The coalition and Afghan forces had claimed in 2007 that they had killed Zadran in eastern Afghanistan. However, he had later appeared in a video to deny the claim. Zardran, blamed for a number of attacks in Afghanistan, had been the target of several US drones. Mullah Zadran had recently invited Kurds and Turks to come to Afghanistan to participate in jihad. Zadran’s death is a serious blow to the Haqqani Network as he is the second senior Commander of the group died in the US drone strikes in nearly one year. Badruddin Haqqani, operational commander of the network, was killed in a US strike in North Waziristan late August 2012./end