(CNN) A US drone strike in Afghanistan's northeastern Kunar province has killed a leading militant, who was the man in charge of the Pakistan Taliban's (TTP) operations in the Swat Valley when activist Malala Yousafzai was shot in 2012, according to a Afghan government official.

Ministry of Defense spokesman Mohammad Radmanish confirmed to CNN that Mullah Fazlullah, who led the TTP from 2013, was killed in the strike Wednesday.

US forces had conducted the strike close to the border of Pakistan, targeting the "Emir" of the group, according US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Lt. Col. Martin O'Donnell.

Fazlullah had been a major figure in the TTP even before he became emir in late 2013, and led a Pakistan Taliban militia in the country's Swat Valley prior to his elevation to leadership of the group.

Fazlullah pictured in a frame grab from a 2008 video.

The administrative district, in northwestern Pakistan, was where militants shot and wounded teen activist Yousafzai in October 2012 as she was riding home from school in a van; the Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility.

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