US missiles on Thursday killed the most senior Pakistani in al-Qaeda, one of the Americans’ main targets in the country and wanted for attacks that killed scores of people, officials said.

Badar Mansoor, who reputedly sent fighters to Afghanistan and ran a training camp in North Waziristan, was killed in a drone strike near the Afghan border, Pakistani officials and a member of his group said. “He died in the missile attacks overnight in Miranshah. His death is a major blow to al-Qaeda’s abilities to strike in Pakistan,” a senior Pakistani official said.
His death was confirmed by one of his loyalists. “Badar Mansoor was killed in the missile attack,” a militant among his group confirmed by telephone.

Intelligence officials in Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan, said Mansoor had been killed, but others were divided. “We’re not sure. We cannot give confirmation just like that,” one of them said.