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Pakistani officials: Terror group commander killed

  • Story Highlights
  • Tahir Yuldashev died a month after a U.S. drone strike, Pakistani officials said
  • Yuldashev was head of terror group the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
  • Counterterrorism officials say Uzbek group an affiliate of al Qaeda
  • Yuldashev's fighters said to have said al Qaeda training facilities
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A commander of an al Qaeda-linked terror group was killed in Pakistan by a suspected U.S. drone strike, Pakistani military officials said Friday.

Uzbek commander Tahir Yuldashev was injured August 27 and died a month later from his injuries, according to the officials.

Yuldashev was the head of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and had joined forces with the former head of the Pakistani Taliban Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in early August, Pakistani officials said.

The officials asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media. They said Pakistani Taliban commander Qari Noor-ul-Islam was also injured in the same August drone strike, but is still alive.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is an affiliate of al Qaeda, counterterrorism officials have said.

An analyst said Yuldashev's death is a blow the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and al Qaeda.

"Al Qaeda has lost one of its strategic allies," said Muhammad Amir Rana, the head of Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad based think-tank that monitors militant activity.

Yuldashev's fighters shared training facilities with al Qaeda in Pakistan's tribal region, Rana said.

-- CNN's Reza Seyah and journalist Nasir Habib contributed to this report.

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