Mansour officially took over the Afghan Taliban after it was revealed in July that the group’s longtime, one-eyed leader Mullah Omar had been dead for two years, according to Afghan government and a former senior Taliban official.
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“We are trying to establish whether Mansour is dead or alive”, said Sultan Faizi, the spokesman for the Afghan first vice president.
“No such incident has happened, because he is in Afghanistan not in the area of Pakistan they have mentioned”.
Mansoor has claimed widespread backing among Taliban leaders based in Pakistan and on the battlefield, and took credit for the Taliban’s brief capture of the northern city of Kunduz in September.
One Taliban source told Germany’s DPA news agency and Reuters that Mansoor was seriously wounded and six other Taliban figures including the leader’s bodyguard were killed.
A Taliban spokesman denied that Mansour was injured at all, saying the reports are “absolutely baseless”, but the group typically does not speak publicly on the status of its prominent members.
“For the ideological Taliban, Mullah Mansoor is a criminal, a mafia boss, a drug dealer”.
But a leadership tussle immediately ensued, with some Taliban commanders refusing to recognize Mansur.
Mansour is reported to be under growing pressure from Pakistani intelligence to restart peace talks with Afghan authorities, a contentious issue that has prompted much rancour within hardline insurgent ranks.
The potential demise or incapacitation of Mansoor could throw the Taliban into another power struggle, which would probably be prolonged since this time as there is no obvious heir.
“You will always hear such kind of rumours from Afghan side whenever Pakistan will make effort to restart talks to ensure peace in the region”, a Pakistani intelligence official said. Omar had actually died two years earlier.
A breakaway faction of the Taliban led by Mullah Mohamed Rasool was formed last month, in the first formal split in the once-unified group.
Details on the whereabouts of Afghan Taliban leaders have proven especially hard for Western officials to pin down.
Last month, Rasool’s deputy, Mansour Dadullah, was reportedly killed when fighting broke out between the two Taliban factions in Afghanistan’s southern Zabul province.
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Pakistan, which wields considerable influence over the militants, hosted a historic first round of peace negotiations in July.
