'No confirmation' Al-Qaeda's Kashmiri is dead: US official

Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri
© AFP/File Saeed Khan

AFP

KABUL (AFP) - The United States has had "no confirmation" that Pakistani Al-Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri died in a drone strike last week, a US defence official speaking on condition of anonymity said Monday.

A senior Pakistani security official said two days ago there were "strong indications" that Kashmiri -- who had a maximum US bounty of $5 million on his head -- had been killed in a US drone strike last Friday.

"We have no confirmation that he’s dead" as of Sunday evening, the official told AFP in Kabul on day three of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates's farewell visit to Afghanistan.