Mulla Mansour went to Iran for treatment, claims NYT

Pakistan also provided intelligence to track down Taliban chief

ISLAMABAD: Tehreek-i-Taliban chief Mulla Mansour, who was allegedly killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan’s south-western province of Balochistan, had just returned from neighbouring Iran where he had gone for treatment.

The United States picked up a mix of phone intercepts, tips from sources, as well as intelligence from Pakistan to track down the whereabouts of Afghan Taliban leader Mulla Akhtar Mansour, a leading US newspaper reported on Tuesday.

On Monday, President Barack Obama confirmed that the Afghan Taliban chief was killed in a US drone strike conducted close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

According a report published in the New York Times, the US president had given the go-ahead weeks ago to the US military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) for targeting Mansour in a drone strike.

Quoting unnamed officials, the report also said that the US had told Pakistani authorities several weeks ago that Mulla Mansour was a target. There were reports that Pakistan also provided intelligence to track down the reclusive Taliban leader, said the NYT report, adding that Mansour had gone to Iran for undisclosed medical treatment.

The strike targeting Mulla Akhtar Mansour on Saturday was perhaps the most high-profile US incursion into Pakistan since the 2011 raid to kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and sparked a protest by Islamabad that its sovereignty had been violated.

Pakistan protested on Sunday, saying the US government did not inform Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif beforehand. "This is a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty," PM Sharif told reporters in London.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that Washington only notified Pakistan after the operation. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry disclosed that a passport found at the site of the purported drone attack, bearing a different name, carried a valid Iranian visa. It added that the purported passport holder was believed to have returned to Pakistan from Iran on Saturday, the day of the drone strike targeting Mansour.

Photos of the passport, bearing the name Wali Muhammad showed a passing resemblance to some of the old photos available of Mansour. If it is confirmed that Mansour had travelled to Iran before his death, it would raise new questions about the Taliban's use of neighbouring territories, including Iran. Pakistan also summoned the US ambassador to the Foreign Office in Islamabad on Monday and recorded its protest against the drone strike.