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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Sources close to the Pakistani Taliban also told VICE News that Sarhadi was taken to a nearby hospital and died of his wounds.
Two official Taliban spokesmen denied the assertions, with one of them, Zabiullah Mujahed, calling them “a total lie”.
The shootout puts the future of peace talks with the Afghan government in question as a murky intra-Taliban power struggle plays out following the announcement this summer that the group’s reclusive founder, Mullah Omar, had died two years earlier.
“There were differences on some points which later turned into harsh words, then Sarhadi opened fire and the others returned fire”, the Taliban source said.
At the same time, a Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied the incident ever took place and said Mansour was safe and sound in Afghanistan.
“Some media outlets published reports today from the mouths of Kabul intelligence circles that the leader of Islamic Emirate (Mullah Akhtar Mansoor) was attacked and wounded in Kuchlak region of Quetta city yesterday”.
But Mansoor’s leadership was disputed by some within the militant group who later rallied behind another longtime friend of Mullah Omar. The account was confirmed by Faizi and a Pakistani intelligence source.
Mansoor boosted is standing among Afghan and Pakistan-based Taliban militants following the temporary capture of the northern city of Kunduz in September.
Afghanistan peace talks have suffered because of rift within Taliban’s top ranks. Last month, the fighting in Zabul led a dissident commander in Farah province named Mullah Rasool to declare himself head of the group, in an unprecedented challenge to the central leadership. They accused Afghanistan’s government of fabricating the incident, perhaps to undermine a planned meeting between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif next week in Islamabad.
“Mansour’s death, if confirmed, will be the ultimate blow to the Taliban, leading to further fragmentation of the group”.
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The Taliban on Thursday released an audio clip from a man claiming to be Sarhadi, staunchly rejecting reports of the gunfight as “enemy propaganda”.
