U.S. kills Taliban leader in airstrike, Afghanistan says

A U.S. airstrike killed Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour on Saturday, Reuters reports Afghan officials said Sunday.

"Peace is what we want," said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. "Mansour was a threat to that effort. He also was directly opposed to peace negotiations and to the reconciliation process. It is time for Afghans to stop fighting and to start building a real future together."

The attack, on the Pakistan side of the nation's border with Afghanistan, is likely to derail peace talks, The Guardian reports.

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Mansour's death could also deepen the rifts within the Taliban first exposed in 2015, when it was revealed the group's former leader had been dead for almost two years.