Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was seriously injured in a firefight following a heated argument at a gathering of militant commanders, officials said Wednesday, exposing deepening divisions within the fractious militant movement.
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However the Taliban’s official spokesman & Pakistani intelligence officers denied in that Mansour was in Pakistan.
Hours after reports surfaced about Mansour’s purported wounding, the Afghan Taliban published a statement on its website, saying the group “categorically reject[s] this fabricated claim of the enemy intelligence apparatus”.
Some senior Taliban leaders had been suspicious of Mullah Mansour’s support for peace talks hosted by neighbouring Pakistan, and accused pro-Pakistani circles of installing him as the new leader. Pakistan similarly said they couldn’t confirm any fighting in Quetta, which seems like it would’ve been glaring if it was a big as claimed.
But a leadership tussle immediately ensued, with some Taliban commanders refusing to recognize Mansur.
The gunfire, which sources told the BBC seemed to be spontaneous and not an organized attack, comes two years after the death of Taliban founder Mullah Omar.
The Taliban have seen a new resurgence under Mansour, opening new battlefronts despite the rise of the rival Islamic State in Afghanistan. “Mansoor was seriously injured”.
The commander said five senior Taliban members were killed in a hail of bullets, and that more than a dozen others were injured in the melee.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif voiced a willingness to revive stalled peace talks when the two met briefly on the sidelines of a climate-change conference in Paris on December 1.
Sarhadi had been detained in the Guantanamo Bay detention center but was released in 2012.
A senior Taliban commander said that some senior leaders of the group had differences and opened fire at each other.
Mullah Omar died in 2013 but his death was only confirmed in July.
Taliban commanders in Helmand and Uruzgan Provinces confirmed Mullah Dadullah’s death, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid retribution, according to The New York Times.
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“Mansour’s death, if confirmed, will be the ultimate blow to the Taliban, leading to further fragmentation of the group”. Mansoor’s leadership was challenged among some followers, and a breakaway Taliban faction emerged, followed by clashes between the two groups.
