Umar Mansour, the mastermind behind the carnage at Army Public School in Peshawar in 2014, has reportedly been killed in a drone strike by the United States in Afghanistan. A top Pakistani security officer said Mansour and fellow militant Qari Saifullah of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan died in the attack in Bandar area of Nangarhar province on Saturday, reported Dawn. However, Saifullah's killing is yet to be confirmed.

On May 25, the US State Department had declared Mansour a global terrorist and he thus featured on their hit-list. According to Pakistani officers, the focus will now shift to Taliban militants Abdul Wali and Maulvi Fazlullah.

Mansour is believed to have planned the December 16, 2014, massacre in which 122 students and 22 teachers and staff members were killed. Seven Taliban militants scaled a wall, entered the auditorium of the school where students had gathered for an event and opened fire.

Mansour was also behind the September 2015 attack on a Pakistan Air Force base in Peshawar in which 29 people were killed and attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda in January this year. As many as 18 students and faculty members were killed in that incident.

Both Mansour and Saifullah used to operate in Peshawar and the adjoining Frontier Region Peshawar and Darra Adamkhel. Mansour later fled to Afghanistan after a military operation in the Khyber tribal region.