A senior Taliban spokesperson has confirmed that the group's leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour has been killed in a U.S. drone strike.

Mullah Abdul Rauf told The Associated Press that Mansour died in the strike late Friday in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area.

Multiple drones targeted Mansour and another man as they rode in a vehicle in a remote area of Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan.

The strike is reported to have been authorised by US President Barack Obama.

A White House Official has told reporters that the United States informed both Pakistan and Afghanistan shortly after the strike.

National Security Analyst Arash Aramesh says Mansour's death is hugely significant: