Drone strike kills Taliban leader who tried to assassinate Malala Yousafzai

An image of Mullah Fazlullah from 2008.
(Image credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

A U.S.-Afghan drone strike early Thursday morning killed Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah, the Afghan Defense Ministry told The Associated Press on Friday.

Fazlullah, who was killed in eastern Afghanistan on the Pakistani border, is believed to be behind the 2012 assassination attempt of Malala Yousafzai, who was 15 at the time and would go on to win the Nobel Peace Prize after her recovery. Fazlullah is also responsible for a 2014 school massacre in Peshawar that left 132 children dead.

Earlier this year, the United States offered a $5 million reward for information on Fazlullah, HuffPost reports.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.