Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujaheed, however, has dismissed Fayzi’s assertions as baseless.
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But the talks stalled soon after Omar’s death was confirmed.
Mansur was declared the new Taliban leader in July, days after the Afghan government confirmed that Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had died in the Pakistani port city of Karachi two years earlier.
If confirmed, the battle exposes deepening divisions within the fractious militant movement, which saw its first formal split last month after a breakaway faction led by Mullah Mohamed Rasool surfaced – the first formal split in the once-unified group.
The shooting reveals deep divisions and a power struggle within the Taliban after Mansoor assumed leadership.
Former Afghan Taliban militants before they hand over their weapons as part of a government peace an … Mansour is believed to have past ties to some elements within Pakistan’s intelligence service, and he has generally been viewed as more receptive to peace talks than some other Taliban commanders.
“Sarhadi and a group of other Taliban were killed”, Faizi said.
Mansour, whose authority is disputed by rival factions, was wounded when fighting broke out over strategic issues in the house of senior leader called Mullah Abdullah Sarhadi, two senior Taliban members said. “He was rushed to hospital and we are not sure if he survived his wounds”, Faizi told AFP, citing “credible information”.
Sarhadi is a Taliban figure with symbolic importance after spending years in United States detention in Guantanamo Bay, reports the BBC’s Dawood Azami. One commander told Reuters that Mansour was shot four times with an AK-47 assault rifle.
The Agence France-Presse news agency, however, quoted another anonymous Pakistani intelligence official as saying Mansour was “very seriously injured” in the incident.
The Taliban has always been dogged by rumors of its leaders deaths.
But Mansoor’s leadership was disputed by some within the militant group who later rallied behind another longtime friend of Mullah Omar.
But after the Taliban captured the city of Kunduz last September, Mansour enjoyed a surge of legitimacy.
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Mansour and his two newly named deputies are seen as close to the Pakistani military establishment, which has historically nurtured and supported the Taliban.
