Official: Taliban Leader Mullah Mansour Believed to Have Been Killed in Targeted U.S. Airstrike

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon has announced that the U.S. has conducted an airstrike targeting Taliban leader Mullah Mansour. One American official says the U.S. believes Mansour was killed in a drone strike authorized by President Barack Obama.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the attack occurred in a remote region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. He said the U.S. was still studying the results of the attack, leaving Mansour's fate unclear.

But a U.S. official who wasn't authorized to publicly discuss the operation said Mansour and a second male combatant accompanying him in a vehicle were likely killed.

The official said the attack was carried out by unmanned aircraft operated by U.S. Special Operations Forces. The official said the operation occurred at about 6 a.m. EDT southwest of the town of Ahmad Wal.