'Uzbek militant Tahir Yuldashev killed by US predator in Waziristan'

Peshawar, Oct. 2 (ANI): Pakistani security officials have claimed that Uzbek Al Qaeda leader Tahir Yuldashev was killed by a US missile in August in Pakistan's South Waziristan region.

Yuldashev, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, had been operating from South Waziristan for some years.

"The man is dead. He was killed in a drone attack in South Waziristan on August 27," The Nation quoted a Pakistani intelligence agency official, as saying.

Another Pakistani security official said Yuldashev's colleagues had tried to keep his death a secret.

A close ally of the Taliban and al Qaeda, Yuldashev was leading an underground operation against the communist government of Uzbekistan before and after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

He later fled to for the safety of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and fought on the Taliban side in Afghanistan's civil war.

He fled to Waziristan after US-led forced toppled the Taliban in late 2001.

In March 2004, Pakistani forces surrounded his base, but he escaped while his fighters mounted a fierce defence. (ANI)