Islamabad, September 4: The founder of the Haqqani network, Jalaluddin Haqqani died after a prolonged illness. The news of Haqqani’s death was announced today by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. Haqqani was a close-aid of Osama-Bin-Laden. His son, Sirajuddin Haqqani now heads the terror group. He voluntarily gave up the operational leadership of the group in 2001 to give it to Sirajuddin.

He was an Afghan mujahideen commander who fought the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s with the help of the United States and Pakistan. Earlier in 2015, there were rumours about his death. Haqqani was born in 1939 in the village of Karezgay in the Zadran district of eastern Paktia Province.

He studied at the Dar-al-'Ulam Haqqaniya Deobandi seminary in 1964. In 1970, Haqqani graduated with a doctorate entitling him to the status of Mawlawi in Peshawar. He also played an instrumental role in keeping Taliban together after the death of Mullah Omar. Recently, the Haqqani network is responsible for attacks in Kabul as well as an insurgency against NATO forces.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 04, 2018 10:34 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).