The Haqqani Network's second in command, Maulvi Ahmad Jan, was among five other Taliban commanders killed during a drone strike on Thursday which killed a total of nine people, a Pakistani official told NBC News.
According to an official who is not yet authorized to speak on the attack, the drone targeted a religious school when it killed Jan, the prominent advisor to the Haqqani Network leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, NBC News reported.
Taliban commanders Maulana Ghazi Marjan, Maulana Hameedullah, Maulana Abdur Rahman and Maulana Abdullah were also killed, officials told NBC News.
"Initially we thought that a suicide bomber had hit the madrasa but later we confirmed it was a drone attack," the security official said, according to NBC News,.
The Haqqani Network is a Pakistan-based Taliban movement and is a main enemy of the United States, who have been blamed for over 2,000 American soldiers death, NBC News reported.
Dr. Anatol Lieven of King's College in London told NBC News that Jan helped the network plan insurgent attacks against the U.S. and Afghan forces. Right after the attack, witnesses reported dozens of militants blocking the scene, and even the roads leading to the religious school were being blocked to civilians, NBC News reported.
Amjad Hussain, a local resident and witness, said the drone fired four rockets into the madrasa in Pakistan's Waziristan tribal region around 5:40 a.m., according to NBC News.
"The Taliban militants did not allow even local residents to go and see what had happened," he said. "They blocked nearby streets leading towards the madrassa," NBC News reported. Beside the Taliban members, four other non-Pakistani's were killed in the strike.
According to NBC News, Thursday's drone attack has been the first since Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Meshud was killed on Nov. 1.
