HERAT, Afghanistan - A Taliban commander Mullah Awaz, aliased Ghazi, has been confirmed dead as a pilotless plane struck the militants' hideout in Shindand district of western Afghanistan's Herat province on Sunday, provincial police spokesman Abdul Ahad Walizada said.

"Acting upon intelligence report, the unmanned plane of the foreign forces targeted the Taliban hideout in Aziz Abad area of Shindand district today morning, killing the Taliban commander Mullah Awaz on the spot," Walizada told Xinhua.

Describing Walizada's death as a major setback to the Taliban, the official claimed that the physical elimination of Walizada who was the mastermind of attacks on government forces, could demoralize the militants in Herat and the neighboring provinces.

Taliban militants haven't commented on the news.