Taliban commander killed in Pakistan

, Jan 22: A

commander was killed in

's tribal area of North Waziristan on Tuesday in military strikes, Geo News reported.

Adnan Rashid was killed in military strikes, said security sources. But the Taliban denied the report.

Earlier on Tuesday, military jets and gunship helicopters pounded militant hideouts in the North Waziristan's Mir Ali area, killing 40 terrorists. Unconfirmed reports stated that Rashid's house was targeted in these strikes.

Rashid had been sentenced to death for an attack on former president General (retd) Pervez Mushararf in 2004. He was imprisoned at the Bannu prison and was freed along with 400 inmates when militants stormed the prison in 2012. He was also the mastermind of the 2013 Dera Ismail Khan jailbreak in which over 170 prisoners had escaped.

IANS