The killing of the top Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah, a one-legged fighter who orchestrated suicide attacks, beheadings and an ethnic massacre, marks a major victory for the U.S. campaign at a time of flagging Afghan support over civilian killings.

As victims of Dadullah's brutality celebrated his death Sunday, analysts called the killing the most significant Taliban loss since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. But even NATO acknowledged that Dadullah, who directed some of the Taliban's most notorious violence, would soon be replaced.

"It's the biggest setback to the Taliban since they started resistance in 2001," said Rahimullah Yusufzai, a Peshawar based journalist and expert on tribal affairs in the Pashtun lands straddling the Pakistan-Afghan border where the Taliban operate.

"They can take revenge for the killing. They can become more brutal. There may be more reprisal attacks. But it is clear that for now, at least, that there is no one who can replace him," Yusufzai said.

"He was an inspirational and daring commander. I don't see any person of his standing in the Taliban heirachy."