(CNN) A US drone strike in Afghanistan's northeastern Kunar province has killed the leader of the Pakistan Taliban (TTP), according to a Afghan government official.Ministry of Defense spokesman Mohammad Radmanish confirmed to CNN that Mullah Fazlullah, who led the terror group from 2013, was killed in the strike Wednesday.
US forces had conducted the strike close to the border of Pakistan, targeting the "Emir" of the group, according US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Lt. Col. Martin O'Donnell.
Fazlullah had been a major figure in the TTP even before he became emir in late 2013, and once led a Pakistan Taliban militia in the country's Swat Valley.
The administrative district, in northwestern Pakistan, was where militants shot and wounded teen activist Malala Yousafzai in October 2012 as she was riding home from school in a van; the Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility.
A statement from US Forces-Afghanistan claimed that the strike did not put an ongoing, unilateral ceasefire initiated by the Afghan government at risk.