Leader of Uzbek extremists killed in Pakistan

Tahir Yuldashev, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, was killed in a missile strike in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, where he had been based for some years, they said.

Yuldashev's death will be welcomed by governments in central Asia, where he wanted to set up an Islamic state.

His death will also be a blow to his Pakistani Taliban allies as the army prepares to launch an offensive against them in their South Waziristan bastion.

"The man is dead. He was killed in a drone attack in South Waziristan on August 27," said one Pakistani intelligence agency official in the city of Peshawar, confirming a report in The Dawn newspaper.