Blast kills another Taliban leader in Afghanistan

PESHAWAR: A senior Pakistani Taliban commander was killed by a bomb in eastern Afghanistan, militant and intelligence sources told AFP on Thursday, the latest such incident to target the group in recent days. Sheharyar Mehsud, chief of a militant faction which is part of the umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was the target of the remote-controlled blast in the Kunar province, a TTP commander in Pakistan told AFP. A Pakistani intelligence official who confirmed the incident said Mehsud had fled to Afghanistan in 2016. The blast comes nearly two weeks after two other key TTP leaders - Khalid Haqqani and Qari Saifullah Peshawari - were killed in a clash with security forces. It was not immediately clear who was behind the killings. They have come as the US and Afghan Taliban appear close to a breakthrough on a deal .