Pakistan soldiers have killed the man who allegedly planned the massacre that ended the lives of 132 children at a military-run school in Peshawar less than two weeks ago, government officials said.
Pakistan-based Taliban leader Saddam Jan was killed late on Christmas day after troops raided a remote area in the tribal Khyber region near the border with Afghanistan, local government official Shahab Ali Shah told The Telegraph.
The Thursday night raid was followed by an hour-long shootout between the troops, Jan and other militants, resulting in Jan's death and the arrest of six of his accomplices, Shah said, according to CBS News.
Jan "was responsible for facilitating the massacre at the Army Public School and College," Shan told The Telegraph. "He was the mastermind of several attacks carried out throughout the country. We had credible reports that he facilitated the Peshawar school attack."
A total of 148 people, mostly children, were killed on Dec. 16 when Taliban gunmen opened fire inside the Army Public School. The attackers claimed the act was retribution for military operations carried out against them in the North Waziristan tribal region.
Pakistan security forces have carried out raids on suspected militant strongholds ever since, including one last week that killed 77 militants in the Khyber region.
On Friday, a suspected U.S. drone strike killed at least seven militants at two separate compounds in the same tribal region, Pakistan officials said.
The slain Taliban leader is also believed to have orchestrated several other attacks, including one on polio vaccine workers in 2013 that killed 11 security personnel, The Telegraph reported.
Jan's death is a major blow to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan because he was one of its last leaders who was still launching regular attacks against the government and military, experts told the newspaper. Other top Taliban members have recently been killed, including one last week and two last year.
"Taliban are on the run and losing important commanders is a sign that they are getting weaker and weaker," said Mahmood Shah, a former head of security in Pakistan's tribal areas.
